It is proposed to take Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, in that order.
Order of Business.
I object to the Order of Business as being unsatisfactory and inadequate. There are at least eight or nine motions on the Order Paper, two of them surviving from the last Seanad, several of them highly significant, and we are making miserably slow progress. This is the fourth meeting of the Seanad in the present session and we have not even begun to discuss a single motion.
According to the agreement indicated by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, the transaction of Seanad business at the moment depends on the availability of Government business, and last week the Leader of the House used this reason precisely for our not meeting between 19 May and 9 June. Senator Eoin Ryan overlooked the fact that the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 1981 had gone through all Stages in the Dáil by 26 May. So, even given our present restricted arrangements, we should have met on 2 June.
When Senator Ryan presents us today with a patently inadequate Order of Business we know that it is not really his fault personally, because he declared his desire on numerous occasions that the Seanad should be taken seriously and he expressed this no later than the initial sitting of this session on 13 May. But much as we respect his sincerity, his declarations of intent can no longer be taken seriously in the light of the emphatic assertion at Question Time in the Dáil last week of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment when he said that the Government are totally satisfied with the Seanad system as it is, that they have no intention of reviewing its constitution and procedure.
In the light of this complacent, if not cynical perception by the Government of the role of the Seanad in Parliament, it behoves us to wake up and to decide that if the Government have no intention of reforming this House, the present state of which is a matter for continual comment by public commentators, then it is time for us to decide that we will do our bit to reform this House.
So for starters I propose that in addition to the suggested Order of Business we add No. 14 which is standing in the names of Senator Shane Ross and myself and which asks "That Seanad Éireann is of the opinion that the powers and functions of the Seanad and the methods of election of its members are in need of urgent review".
I support what Senator Murphy has said and I second his proposal that we add that to the Order of Business. I am beginning to feel very frustrated, as are a large number of my constituents, because they feel, rightly or wrongly, that the Government are ducking debating motions in the House here. There are several motions, including No. 14, which are matters of great public interest, including a motion in my name on extradition which should be debated before the summer recess. A Fine Gael motion was ordered last week, which is supposed to be taken today, on agriculture. It appears that there was no time for this to be taken. I have no guarantee that there will be time for it to be taken this week — it is the last thing on the Order of Business which means that we are going to have to put off all other motions until another time.
On the whole matter of Seanad reform, I do not know whether the Government feel that this is a perfect House, but I have found from a statement in the Dáil last week that they have no intention of making any amendments to the procedures of this House and that they have no intention of actually looking at the procedures and the methods by which this House operates. It is very depressing indeed because there are all sorts of improvements which could be made.
I cannot agree to include motion No. 14 this afternoon. We have included a motion for today and if we conclude that we will be taking another motion at the next sitting. That is the procedure that has been operated in this House for many years past.
Reference was made to what was said in the other House. The procedure in this House is a matter for this House: anything to do with procedure and privileges is a matter for this House, though initially for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. The Committee on Procedure and Privileges are sitting this afternoon and, among other things, will be considering the question of when motions should be taken. The committee should be allowed to deliberate on this question and to report to the House. If the House is not satisfied with the conclusions and recommendations of the committee then, of course, the House will be free to make its views clear. For the moment it would be departing very far from the practice of this House to attempt to take two motions on one day. In these circumstances, and particularly in view of the fact that the committee are meeting this afternoon, I would ask the House not to agree to this amendment of the Order of Business.
When is it intended that we sit next?
Next week, on Wednesday.
Question put: "That No. 14 be added to the Order of Business".
The Seanad divided: Tá, 20; Níl, 23.
Tá
- Barnes, Monica.
- Belton, Luke.
- Bolger, Deirdre.
- Bulbulia, Katherine.
- Byrne, Toddie.
- Dowling, Dick.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- Ferris, Michael.
- Harte, John.
- Hourigan, Richard V.
- Lennon, Joseph.
- Loughrey, Joachim A.
- McAuliffe, Tim.
- McDonald, Charlie.
- Murphy, John A.
- O'Connell, Maurice.
- O'Mahony, Flor.
- Reynolds, Pat Joe.
- Ross, Shane P.N.
- West, Timothy Trevor.
Níl
- Brennan Paudge.
- Cassidy, Donie.
- Cranitch, Mícheál.
- Hanafin, Des.
- Hannon, Camilla
- Herbert, Tony.
- Kenneally, William.
- Lanigan, Mick.
- Larkin, James.
- Mallon, Séamus.
- Mara, Patrick J.
- Mullooly, Brian.
- Crowley, Flor.
- Fallon, Seán.
- Fitzgerald, Tom.
- Nolan, Matthew J.
- O'Keeffe, Edmond.
- O'Rourke, Mary.
- O'Toole, Martin J.
- Ryan, Eoin.
- Ryan, William.
- Smith, Michael.
- Wright, Thomas A.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Murphy and Ross; Níl, Senators W. Ryan and Cranitch.
Question declared lost.
Order of Business agreed to.