I would like to refer to the point raised by the Leader of the House. He misunderstands the point I made yesterday evening. What I said on the Order of Business was that it was almost certain from the information I had that the Marine Institute Bill would not last the time allocated to it. I then said that in view of the grave public disquiet over the incident in Mountjoy Prison it would be appropriate for this House to devote the remaining time to discuss that issue, that the Seanad had to be in a position to respond speedily to matters of grave public importance. As it turned out, there was an hour and a half available. I was right in my prediction as to what would happen on the Marine Institute Bill.
What the Leader of the House said in justification of his decision not to grant that time was for — I quote: "It was the Opposition Whips who asked for an extension of time on this item". My information is that this is not correct and that we did not ask for an extension of time on this matter. We accepted what was proposed by the Government. I am making the point — and I do not want to get into a wrangle over who said what because I am certain the Leader of the House acted in good faith in this matter — that we should be sufficiently flexible in our procedures, and if there is time available that we should use that time to respond to a matter of major public importance. That is what I asked yesterday. The fact that the Dáil was able to have a full debate on this, while we were not, even though we had an hour and a half free, makes the point I was making yesterday. I will leave the matter there. I was not imputing any bad faith to the Leader of the House. I do not accept it was on the insistence of the Opposition that the time was extended and I have checked on this with the Whips.
I want to raise a second point on the Order of Business. I — and I am sure many other Members of this House — were gravely disturbed to read in The Irish Times this morning a statement by the British Minister for the Environment, Mr. Patten, that on the three occasions when our Minister for the Environment has met him not once has he raised the issue of Sellafield. We are being told here that the Government are making every effort to clear up this matter, but not once has the issue been raised. I will be asking before the day is over for an explanation as to whether this is true, and if it is true, why?
