It is proposed to take Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 on the Order Paper.
Order of Business.
I have a motion on the Order Paper and I was given to understand that it would be taken today. If this motion is not taken this week, it will not have any sense or purpose at all. The stall-feeding season has started throughout the country. There are a lot of farmers who are aware that this motion is on the Seanad Order Paper and they are waiting to hear the result of it. I was given to understand that the motion would be taken and I would now request that, if' it cannot be taken today, the Minister for Agriculture should take it tomorrow.
I explained to the Senator that the Minister for Agriculture was not available and that it was regretted that the motion could not be taken today. I understand his engagements do not permit him to take it tomorrow.
Are you sure that the Minister will not be available tomorrow?
It is not essential for the Minister to be here.
The matter has been drawn to the attention of the Leader of the House and the Chair cannot do anything about it.
May I ask whether Senator Ó Maoláin can tell us the business we are expected to transact before the adjournment?
There is a meeting of the Dáil Whips some time this evening to make arrangements with regard to rising for the recess and the business to be transacted. I have not yet got a definite indication of what Bills are expected but I understand they will include half a dozen of the smaller Bills which appear on the Dáil Order Paper. I will probably know before the House adjourns this evening.
May I make a small comment on that? There are a number of Bills in the Dáil which have not been touched and which are not the subject of controversy. They could very well have been introduced in this House with benefit to all concerned and to both Houses. I should like to register an objection right now to the fact that at the mouth of Christmas even six small Bills should be thrown at the Seanad and we should be asked to consider them. I think we should get them after Christmas rather than before. It would have been much better to introduce in the Seanad such non-controversial Bills as Funds of Suitors Bill, 1963, Adoption Bill, 1963, Firearms Bill, 1963 and even the Criminal Justice Bill, 1963. If they had been introduced here it would have been a great help towards streamlining our parliamentary procedure.
The Senator is well aware that this House has to wait on the Dáil for business and when they provide it it is our job to do it.
I am not objecting to waiting but that it is a most inconvenient time. A whole lot of Bills are thrown on us, or, as we say in Irish, caitte anuas orainn.
Surely it is the Government who decide what Bills should be introduced and when they send them to us we give them a fair reading.