Skip to main content
Normal View

Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 19 May 1982

Vol. 98 No. 2

Order of Business.

It is proposed to take Business in the following order: Nos. 1 to 5.

Has any progress been made in the setting up of the Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the EEC and when it may appear before us on the Order of Business?

I would like to raise a matter which is of public importance: the serious situation that has arisen regarding the transfer of jurisdiction for family law cases, in view of the hardship and the problems raised for women, particularly in violent situations, where barring and protection orders are being disallowed to women through no fault of their own. I would ask the House on the Order of Business either to suspend Standing Orders to discuss this urgent matter or to allow it on the Adjournment. The urgency of the situation calls for this House to debate it and make recommendations for an alleviation of the situation to be made.

I will be in touch with you.

Do I understand that you will be in touch with the Senator today or at a later stage? One way of dealing with this might be——

With respect, may I ask for a definition of "shortly"? Is it days, weeks, hours or minutes?

My idea of "shortly," Senator, is today.

I would like to ask the Leader of the House about the arrangements regarding the taking of motions. I would like to refer particularly to motion No. 7 in the names of Senators Ross, Murphy and Robb in the light of the Taoiseach's appointment of two Senators from Northern Ireland. As this is the policy of the Taoiseach and the Government, we should have an opportunity to discuss items such as motion No. 7 and other motions on Northern Ireland which are going to come up. I would like the Leader of the House to indicate that motions will be taken regularly so that we can deal with these topics on a regular basis.

During my 11 years in this House we have had a number of excellent discussions on topics involving Northern Ireland. They were discussions which would have given a good deal of heart to people in Northern Ireland if they had heard them and, in the new position in which we find ourselves after the Taoiseach's nomination of two Senators from the North, I hope that we will get regular opportunities to discuss motions such as No. 7 and motions concerning other items dealing with Northern Ireland.

I should like to endorse that and also to say that I am disappointed that we are not proposing to take any Private Members' motions today. I would like to ask the Leader of the House if he is going to give any regular allocation of time to Private Members' motions and how is this going to be done?

May I say that it is a singular honour you have paid me by inviting me to come here to serve? I look forward with great interest and eager anticipation to the forthcoming term. The people of Northern Ireland have responded generously to this generous and sincere gesture that has been made to us by the Taoiseach.

I am sure Senators will be interested to hear that I have received only one piece of criticism concerning the decision to accept the Taoiseach's nomination. At the same time, the people of Northern Ireland are eagerly watching what is going to happen and they will take a great interest in this appointment, and the debate and the conflict, perhaps, that it will create, will have a constructive effect on their feelings and on the fundamental changes that are taking place in Northern Ireland.

I would ask the Members of this House to support the suggestion made by Senator West, and endorsed by Senator Ross, that you allow time, perhaps a disproportionate amount of time, to discuss the very important issue of the place of Northern Ireland as it evolves into a future with the rest of Ireland.

I would like to support what has been said of the desirability of discussing items relating to Northern Ireland, especially in view of the singular coyness of the Government side in recent times in their support for discussing anything at all to do with Northern Ireland or the Constitution.

(Interruptions.)

I hope that Senator Crowley's contribution to this House will be somewhat more than sniping as they were on the previous occasion.

It will be better than the Senator's contribution last week.

I would like to suggest that there is no reason why on every sitting of the House the taking of a motion could not be considered. Our understanding was, in the second last session, that we should take a motion on average once a month. Clearly that did not work out very satisfactorily. There is no reason why we should not think in terms of taking a motion on virtually every sitting of the House, especially as the whole character of this House is geared towards discussions of this kind.

I should like to back up what the Independent Senators have said. In doing so I would like to welcome Senator Robb and congratulate him upon his maiden contribution to this House. As Senator Murphy said, the nature of this House, the record of the number of sittings and the volume of work which is normally required are such that they do not preclude us from having a proper discussion of motions. In the last Seanad, a number of important topical motions which could well have been discussed succinctly were allowed to rest and to gather dust upon the Order Paper. The debate we had on the Polish situation was a model of what this House can do and the contribution it can make to public debate and to the articulation of public issues. I would ask the Leader of the House to try to arrange the Order of the Business in such a way that this House can continue to show, as it has done in the past when it was given a chance, how relevant and responsible it can be.

In response to Senator Ferris in regard to the Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the EEC, that has appeared on the Dáil Order Paper and I expect it to be taken some time this week. We will certainly take it on the first sitting day after the Dáil has passed it and there will be no delay as far as we are concerned. In regard to the various contributions about motions, as most of the Members are aware, this has in the past been regulated by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges and the procedure which has been adopted over many years is that at least one motion is taken each month. The Committee on Procedure and Privileges have not met yet but I think it is more than likely that they will agree to continue this arrangement. In the meantime, I propose that we adhere to the arrangement to have at least one motion a month. It does not look as though we are going to have one during May so that in that case we will take two next month.

The other arrangement that was made was that each group, in rotation, will have the opportunity to take a motion, that is Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Independents, in that order. This is all a matter for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges and if anybody has strong views that this arrangement should be changed it will be up to him or her to bring the proposed changes before the committee but until such time as the committee have been set up and have had an opportunity to discuss the matter, it is my intention to take a motion on the next sitting day and a further motion sometime in June. We did attempt to have motion No. 10 ready for today but the Minister for Agriculture could not be available today. We will take it on the next sitting day and after that we will take the motions in the order which I suggested.

That is the position at the moment. It has never been a rigid situation: sometimes we have taken motions more than once a month, sometimes we have not been able to take a motion in a particular month. It has operated in a reasonable satisfactory manner with that flexibility.

In response to Senator Murphy, it would not be possible to take a motion every sitting day because on many sitting days we do not even get through Government business on that day or even by sitting on the following day as well. On that basis it would not be possible to take a motion every sitting day. For the moment it is my intention to adhere to the procedure we had in the past and it will be considered by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. If any Members have any views they want to put before the committee they are entitled to do so.

I appreciate the answer given——

After the Leader has spoken the discussion is concluded.

Lest that become a firm ruling, indicating that nothing can be said, I might say that it has been the custom in the past that brief questions have been allowed to the Leader of the House after his concluding speech. I hope that brief questions could still be allowed in the future.

I will always take that into account but I think that Senator Ryan has explained the position.

I have no questions today, but I may have at a future date.

I will be glad to accommodate you.

Order of Business agreed to.
Top
Share