It is proposed to take Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Order of Business.
I would like to ask the Acting Leader of the House if it might be possible to have an early date for Motion No. 14 on the Order Paper. This motion asks:
That Seanad Éireann notes the significance of the report and recommendations of the Brandt Commission contained in ‘North South: a programme for survival, 1980', and calls on the Government to respond positively both through Ireland's own approach to North-South issues and also by promoting initiatives in the European Community and the United Nations along the lines recommended in that report.
When the Minister for Foreign Affairs was in this House shortly before we rose in July he indicated that he was very sympathetic to a debate on this report. I know that the Leader of the House made some efforts in July. The next motion, Motion No. 15, in the names of the Fine Gael group could be taken with it. It says:
That Seanad Éireann deplores the inadequacy of Government support for Development Aid to the Third World.
It is probably one of the most important reports that has been published in 1980. It deeply concerns the commitment of this country to North-South relations. Could I ask the Acting Leader of the House if it might be possible to have this report circulated to members of the Seanad? It is available in paperback in the bookshops in Dublin but very few Senators have had an opportunity of acquiring it. It is a report that all of us, as Members of the Oireachtas, ought to have and ought to read and I would hope could debate in the very near future. I would ask that the report might be circulated and that we might have a very early date for discussing the motion.
I wish to support Senator Robinson very fully on her request to the Acting Leader of the House concerning the Brandt Commission Report. I wish to support her also in her suggestion to Senator Ryan that he might couple with it Motion No. 15 which relates to the issue of Government support for development aid to the Third World. They could very suitably be coupled together. This Brandt Report could be the subject of a very substantive debate in this House. I wish to support the Senator for those reasons.
I will certainly look into that. I cannot say whether we will take it on the next sitting day or not but if not I will let the Senator know then how soon we can take it.
Order of Business agreed to.