I should like to ask the Minister will the effect of Section 2 be to give full powers to the Executive Council in regard to the policy to be adopted at the League? Does it take away from the Oireachtas the power to discuss any of the regulations made by the League, and does it also give a mandate as to the policy to be adopted by our representatives in the League of Nations? It would seem to me that that is the case, and that the Bill gives an absolute mandate to the Executive Council to act upon their own authority after admission to the League.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS (GUARANTEE) BILL, 1923. - SEANAD IN COMMITTEE.
Clause 1 put and agreed to.
CLAUSE 2.
I should like to be informed whether it would be possible within the scope of our Standing Orders to move that further consideration of this Bill be postponed until after the General Election?
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
We are now in Committee.
I am aware of that fact. Some of us were anxious, if possible, to put forward such a suggestion.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
That should have been put forward on the Second Reading. It is not a point for Committee Stage.
I also wish to raise a point that has already been raised by another Senator, that entry into the League should be postponed until after the election.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
Senator the Earl of Wicklow is quite competent to express his own opinion.
I was not speaking for him. I was speaking on behalf of another Senator.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I cannot entertain the suggestion that if some other Senator was here he would say something else. It is absurd.
I think you misunderstood me. Immediately after Senator the Earl of Wicklow made a suggestion, I made another one.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I understood you to say that if some other Senator were here he would put the proposal in a different way.
I do not want to argue the point.
I have made my suggestion.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I cannot accept it on the Committee Stage. When we come to the next Reading I presume it will be open to a Senator to move such a motion.
With regard to Senator O'Farrell's point, any commitment undertaken by the Executive Council at the League of Nations can always be brought up at the Oireachtas and a contrary decision made.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
That hardly seems consistent with the language of the clause itself. The clause says "it shall be lawful for the Executive Council to accept in the name and on behalf of Saorstát Eireann such regulations as may be prescribed." As the clause stands the Executive Council have power to do it without consulting the Oireachtas. That is the plain reading of the clause, I think.
It is confined to military, naval, and air forces.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I am talking about the regulations made under Section 2. Senator O'Farrell asked did the section give the Executive Council power to accept the regulations without bringing them before the Oireachtas.
That is so. It would seem to me as if the Oireachtas had only power to discuss these regulations after they had been accepted by the Executive Council.
The Executive Council can act only in accordance with the Constitution as it exists here. For instance, if the League of Nations proposed that we should partake in a war we could not do so without coming here, and the Oireachtas deciding whether we should partake or not.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
The marginal note in the Bill would be wrong if that is so, as it says the "Executive Council may accept regulations."
To take an extreme case, the League of Nations may decide that all nations such as Ireland may disband the whole of their military and naval forces, and might leave these countries absolutely at the mercy of nations such as England, who have some power over them. Would the Executive Council in that case be empowered to accept that, or leave it to be discussed by the Oireachtas?
It actually could accept it, but of course the Executive Council is subject to the Dáil. Every decision agreed to by the Executive Council can come up here afterwards even in spite of this clause.
Motion: "That Section 2 stand part of the Bill," put and agreed to.
Clause 3 and Preamble put and agreed to.
Bill ordered to be reported.