It is proposed to take No. 10, motion re withdrawal of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2012; No. 11, motion re referral to select committee of proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the report by the Minister for Defence regarding service by the Defence Forces with the United Nations in 2013; and No. 22, Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013 [Seanad] - Order for Report, Report and Final Stages. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that in the event a division is in progress at the time fixed for taking Private Members’ business, the Dáil shall sit later than 9 p.m. tonight and Private Members’ business, which shall be No. 146, motion re confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality and Minister for Defence, shall, if not previously concluded, adjourn after 90 minutes; and (2) Nos. 10 and 11 shall be decided without debate. Tomorrow's business after Oral Questions shall be No. 24, Companies Bill 2012 - Report Stage (resumed).
Order of Business
There are two proposals to put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with Private Members' business agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. 10 and 11 agreed to?
It is not agreed. Obviously, these are important issues which we need to-----
Is it in regard to the Defence Forces-----
I ask the Taoiseach to set aside Government time for the Minister for Justice and Equality to make a statement on his revelation that 84 prisoners had their telephone conversations recorded. I would like the Taoiseach to consider rearranging the Order of Business to allow that statement to be made. It is very striking and astonishing-----
That is a separate issue. This is a proposal I am obliged to put to the House and it is related to the withdrawal of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2012 and the referral of proposed approval of the report regarding service by the Defence Forces with the United Nations in 2013, without debate. These are the only issues I am putting to the House. Is that agreed to? Deputy Adams can raise the other issue separately on the Order of Business.
Perhaps it is my ignorance, a Ceann Comhairle, but if we agree on the Order of Business-----
No, you are only agreeing these particular issues. What I am putting now is purely technical. There is nothing to prevent you arranging to have something debated.
Having conferred with my colleague, we do not agree.
I call the Taoiseach.
Deputy Adams is looking for time to be set aside. As I said, there is a moving canvas here. We have set up a formal commission of investigation to be chaired by a Supreme Court justice, which will bring a sense of experience, integrity and credibility to that process. We need to finalise the terms of reference in a short time, in consultation with the Supreme Court justice. All of these matters of public interest, including recordings, tapings, retention, legality and all of that will be dealt with by that commission of investigation. Clearly, I am not going to change the Order of Business now. I have brought that to the attention of the House today, as I thought I should, because it came to our notice only this morning. It is an issue that, obviously, we will find a way of discussing, but not by changing the business here this evening.
I shall put the question.
I call Deputy Martin on the Order of Business.
I have a number of items. Will the Taoiseach agree to make time available for the Minister for Justice and Equality to come in to answer questions specifically in regard to the removal of the former Garda Commissioner? In particular, will he make clear, on the record of the House, when he was alerted to the content of the letter sent to him by the former commissioner under section 41 of the 2005 Act?
In other words, at the meeting at 6 p.m. last Monday when he was briefed by his departmental officials, was he alerted to the content of the letter sent to the Secretary General by the Commissioner? We need more time to go through this. When it was timetabled last week, there were no questions on any specific statement last Wednesday morning. It was just a carefully scripted statement but there were no actual questions on that statement and we could do with time for the Minister on that.
In respect of the housing situation, the Taoiseach knows that up to 100,000 families are in arrears as we speak. This is a significant issue in terms of the mortgage arrears crisis. The Secretary General of the Department of Finance said last week that there must be an increase in the availability of social housing. The housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill is committed to. Could the Taoiseach indicate when it will come before the House? Under the programme for Government, the Taoiseach indicated that a staged purchase scheme to increase the stock of social housing would be introduced. Could the Taoiseach bring the Dáil up to date on that? Under this scheme, leased dwellings will revert to the ownership of local authorities and housing associations at the end of the leasehold period. The Taoiseach also said the Government would introduce legislation to enable larger housing associations and local authorities to access private sector funding for social housing by issuing social housing bonds secured on the value of their existing housing stock when market conditions allow. Could the Taoiseach update us as to when this will happen?
The heads of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill were cleared last December and the Bill will be published this session. There is a Private Members' motion of no confidence in the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence this evening. Deputy Martin can listen to the Minister's contribution during that debate. Deputy Martin comes into the House every week and asks for time, which is perfectly legitimate. However, there were an hour and 15 minutes of questions to the Minister for Justice and Equality last Wednesday evening and not one Fianna Fáil Member attended the House.
You asked three questions.
And we got no answers. It was absolute nonsense. We are still waiting for answers.
There are other people who wish to raise issues. Would Deputy Kelleher respect the Chair?
There is a long-standing tradition that one does not refer to Members' absence from this House.
You were all absent.
There are plenty of you absent over there at the moment.
If Members do not want to listen to the Order of Business, I will move on to the next item of business. Member should make up their minds.
For the record, I was here and never got any answers. Deputy McGuinness was here in my presence and asked quite a few questions. My question relates to the commitment given by the Government to a timeframe to respond to recommendations by the Constitutional Convention. The Taoiseach knows that I have raised this issue with him a number of times. Yesterday, the convention published its ninth and final report. Last week, in response to a question from me, the Taoiseach acknowledged that the Government did not measure up in terms of allowing time for discussion on the convention's fourth report. We now have nine reports and have not even got round to discussing the fourth one. Can we get some sense from the Taoiseach when he will allow sufficient time for the two reports to be discussed once the chairman's final recommendations are published? The Taoiseach told me that when this happens, he would allow that time. The convention is now finished and has presented its report. I also ask the Taoiseach to join me in commending all those who participated, particularly the citizen members who made such a huge and very uplifting contribution to that process and all the reports. When will we have the opportunity to discuss the work and the recommendations of the convention?
Like Deputy Adams, I commend the citizens who participated in this democratic exercise. The selection process of having 66 citizens from the electoral register was done and reported very fairly. Their contribution was an example of engagement with civic society in a very real way and I commend them on and thank them for that. At its meeting this morning, the Government accepted the recommendation with regard to setting up an electoral commission. The work and process of putting that legislation together will now begin. The Government will return to the two reports, which we received last week, at next week's meeting. I will commit to making time available in the first space that is appropriate for discussion of the reports of the Constitutional Convention. Today, I took that section dealing with the electoral commission, which is part of the programme for Government in any event, and will make preparations to move on with that for implementation during 2015.
Could the Taoiseach inform the House if the Cabinet has discussed and decided upon a submission to the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, in respect of water pricing? That has been open to submission for the past number of weeks and there is not much time left. I know the Taoiseach and Cabinet have been very busy in recent weeks dealing with other matters but I ask him not to forget to make a submission in order that the public might have some idea as to what water pricing policy is being engaged with by the Government with regard to the CER with a view to the public and electorate being fully aware of what costs can be expected to come down the tracks vis-à-vis the water pricing issue.
I expect we will publish the decision in the next two to three weeks.
Does the Taoiseach intend appointing any more Ministers of State to the Department of the Taoiseach in view of the fact that he is now hands-on in the Departments of Justice and Equality and Health? In view of his announcement today, it seems the Taoiseach is now running those Departments.
Perhaps the Deputy might table a parliamentary question on that matter rather than raising it on the Order of Business.
Is there any intention of increasing the number of Ministers of State attached to the Department of the Taoiseach to assist him in his workload?
If I was to follow some of the wonderful revelations relating to Deputy Kelleher, perhaps he could come over here, participate from the Opposition and be given real responsibility. The answer to Deputy Kelleher's question is "No".
My question relates to the international recovery of child support (Hague Convention) Bill whose aim is to implement the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance. It is crucial legislation. Has it been approved by Cabinet and when will it come before the House? My next question concerns the climate action and low carbon development Bill, an issue that is very topical at the moment and which has been referred to internationally. Have the heads of the Bill been approved and if so, when is it likely to come before the House?
There is no date for publication of the international recovery of child support (Hague Convention) Bill. The revised heads of the climate action and low carbon development Bill will come back to Cabinet before Easter.
I call Deputy Ó Snodaigh.
The same issue was raised.
On 24 October 2013, the Ministers for Health and Children and the Minister of State, Deputy White, announced a Government initiative to deal with the misuse of alcohol. The initiative aimed to deal with minimum pricing and the regulation of advertising. I note that the public health (alcohol) Bill is listed at number 102 on section C of the Government's legislative programme. This week is alcohol awareness week. Is the Taoiseach in a position to tell us the date or the likely publication date of this important legislation?
Unfortunately, I am not in a position to do so. I will have to report progress to the Deputy through the Minister of State, Deputy White.
There are hundreds of young couples who are looking to purchase local authority houses. When will the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill go through the Dáil?
It will be dealt with in this session.
On a point of order, the Taoiseach has on two occasions made a statement that we were not in the House for questions. I want that corrected. I was here, as was Deputy Niall Collins and others. It is not right to leave that stand on the record.
We will have to get-----
I would be very happy to withdraw the statement and apologise to Deputy McGuinness. I have to take Deputy Adams's word on this that Deputy McGuinness was here and far be it from me to have the Deputy denounced as not being present when he was, at least for a portion of the time anyway.
A portion of the time.
The Taoiseach is only here for a portion of the time too.
A very short period.
I was here at the relevant time. It is a pity he did not answer the questions.
Over the weekend, the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly met here in the city. During the course of an exchange between the Minister of State at the Department of Finance and a number of other delegates, the Minister of State candidly told us that all those earning incomes over €32,000 are now paying taxation at the rate of 53%, including the universal social charge. Is the Economic Management Council, EMC seriously examining the issue in the context of the law of diminishing returns? Will there be any proposal from Government to alleviate the serious pressure of taxation on many people working in our communities?
As a former holder of this office, Deputy Kirk knows that he should tell me what legislation he is referring to here.
The finance Bill.
When is the finance Bill due?
As Deputy Kirk is aware, this matter is deemed to be a priority by the Minister for Finance. The budgetary process will commence shortly. Clearly, we cannot say yet what economic progress the country will make but the question that the Deputy raises is one to be considered as part of the budget. It is one that the Minister has already identified, provided he has flexibility to do something here.
I thank the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport for enabling me to withdraw my road traffic (amendment) Bill from the Order Paper by incorporating its contents into the Road Traffic Bill 2013, which he has brought forward. I wish to acknowledge the Minister's actions in that regard.
Section 133 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 removes the power of the sheriff to repossess homes. I have been raising this issue in the House for some time and I raised it again last week, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, in the context of the central bank (consolidation) Bill. When are we going to see the sheriffs and the gardaí restrained? Another house was attacked yesterday. A 20 year old woman was pulled out of a house by gardaí in Dunshaughlin. Thankfully-----
To what Bill is the Deputy referring? The central-----
The central bank (consolidation) Bill. Thankfully, a Fine Gael backbench Deputy turned up, defused the situation and the sheriff left. They damaged the house. The security company-----
We can deal with that other issue by way of a Topical Issue debate.
It is happening day in, day out and it is being ignored.
It is not an issue for the Order of Business.
The sheriff does not have the powers-----
When is the central bank (consolidation) Bill expected?
I do not have a date for publication of that legislation. There is a process about all of these other matters that the Deputy quite legitimately raises here.
The process is being ignored.