While we are waiting for the Minister, would it be possible to get agreement with regard to the meeting of the House? I have had some conversations outside the House and it appears that it would meet with the approval of some members, at any rate, if we sit until 10 o'clock to-night, adjourn until 11 o'clock to-morrow morning and sit until the business on the Order Paper is finished, without any luncheon adjournment.
Business of the Seanad.
Does that mean that we shall do the Housing Bill to-morrow?
The Second Reading only.
It seems to be practically impossible to get agreement on anything to-night. People will not become non-political.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
The spirit of goodwill is wanting.
I am all in favour of it as far as the Senator is concerned.
I am in favour of sitting all night to-night if necessary. Sitting until 10 o'clock seems all right and sitting to-morrow seems all right, but if we cannot finish to-morrow we shall have to meet again in or around Christmas. The officials say the 31st would be unsuitable but that the 7th of January would be a suitable date. If we defer it until the 7th January it rather looks as if we shall be then in the middle of a general election or, at any rate, in the beginning of it.
I think it is outrageous to ask us to finish the Housing Bill to-morrow. It is a very complicated measure and requires detailed and precise reading. It is a Bill of grave import. It is a travesty of our responsibilities to ask us to sit as if there were an emergency in existence or we were on the eve of the outbreak of a war, when there is merely a general election in the offing. Surely, we can meet in the first week of January and do the business with decency and proper deliberation. If we agree to this unnecessary and indecent haste we shall make this House ridiculous in the eyes of the public.
I suggest meeting on 7th January rather than 31st December. I think it is too Dublin-like to bring us back from the country to listen to the bells of Dublin ringing in the New Year when our families at home are without us. There is to be a general election. Are we all to sing: "Who Will Fill Our Places"? They can be filled with better men than we are. The fact that we should be left to canvass in publichouses on the night before New Year's Day is no reason why we should meet on New Year's Eve. I agree with what Senator Quirke has suggested. I think the 7th January, the day after little Christmas, would be the most Christian and the most human day. I think it would be unChristian and inhuman to meet on New Year's Eve.
May I say to Senator Quirke that it is very unreasonable to ask this House to give a Second Reading to the Local Government (Superannuation) Bill to-morrow and then put it through all its Stages. It is a very important Bill and affects a considerable number of people who are employees of local authorities. Personally, I have received representations from a number of people representing employees of local authorities who have submitted to me a number of proposals for amending the Bill. I want a day or two to have a look at these amendments before I table them. I could table 40 amendments now, but I do not propose to do that. I want to look at the amendments and see what ones I feel I must table and I want a few days for that.
All I am asking is that the House should not be asked to proceed to the Committee Stage to-morrow of those Bills to which a Second Reading will be given. In general, I am agreeable to the re-assembly of the House on the 7th January when I expect that the remaining Stages of these Bills will be disposed of.
Mr. Hawkins
In place of spending so much time as we have on this, I think we should agree to get on with the work, adjourn to-night at 10 o'clock, meet to-morrow and continue until we finish all the business on the Order Paper. Having done that, then we can decide when we shall come back after Christmas.
Agreed to adjourn at 10 p.m. until 11 a.m. on Friday, December 19th.
When shall we adjourn to then?
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
You can decide that to-morrow.
We should definitely finish the agenda to-morrow and, if it is possible to do more when we have the agenda finished, I suggest that we should do it. There is nobody trying to rush anything.
That is absurd. Is it not all a rush?
We were waiting for Deputy Baxter to come back earlier in the evening. If there was any hold up, it was not due to anyone on this side of the House.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
We can decide that to-morrow.