I oppose the passing of this section for one simple reason. I made it quite clear on Second Reading that any board or body of this nature should be set up by means of the introduction of a Bill. In this Bill, we have a request for a continuation of the powers which the present Government have, and which previous Governments had. I think the Minister failed to give to the House to-day any idea as to the specific conditions under which the body which it is proposed to set up will function. On Second Reading, I made a request to the Minister that he might give us the time when the Government decided to set up this body. We have failed to get that. When this Bill was first introduced in the Dáil it did not contain this section. The Bill in that form was withdrawn, and later a new Bill was introduced and that new Bill contained this particular section. It is a very important section, so far as the people are concerned, and I think we should have from the Minister a very clear and definite explanation as to how and when this body is going to operate.
Firstly, I think we should have an explanation as to when the Government decided that it was necessary to set up this body. The Bill was first introduced in a particular week. It was withdrawn the next week and introduced again containing the provision to set up this body. The Minister, on Second Reading, said that this body would be a most important body which, he hoped, would command the confidence of the Irish people. He said that every application for an increase in the retail price of commodities must be placed before this body and that they would decide whether that application should be granted or not. The Minister suggested that because of the manner in which this body was constituted, any decision which it made should command the approval of the people of the country. The Minister was very emphatic that we should devote our attention to what the Bill contained but the Minister himself devoted most of his energies to an effort to evade an explanation of what exactly this body was going to do.
Senator Maguire pointed out many of the difficulties which would confront this body. I made a suggestion here last night in connection with the speech or the lecture delivered by Senator Douglas which I should like to repeat in connection with the lecture delivered by Senator McGuire to-day, namely, that the Clerk of the Seanad should send copies of these speeches to the Tánaiste. One can only express the deep sense of annoyance felt generally by some recent statements made by the person who occupies that very exalted position at the present time. Senator McGuire pointed out some of the effects that the Tánaiste's speech may have. With the permission of the House, I should like to restate some of these effects. Senator McGuire is a supporter of the present Government and is one of those responsible for its being in the position it occupies to-day.
There are other people engaged in the same trade as the Senator, and when we take into consideration statements made by the Minister last night, to the effect that there was a crisis round the corner, that every step should be taken to get supplies of commodities into the country and at the same time when we take into consideration the statement made by the person occupying the second most responsible position in the Government, namely, the Tánaiste, that all those people engaged in industrial development and in commercial activities in the country should find themselves behind the walls of Mountjoy Jail, I think it is bound to have a very bad effect. I appreciate very much the difficulties of the Minister present here to-night.
