It is intended that, as agreed, we take the Derelict Sites Bill.
Order of Business.
There must be something wrong with my microphone.
We cannot hear Senator Lanigan.
The Derelict Sites Bill will be taken as agreed, from 10.30 to 1 o'clock, all Stages to be completed by 1 o'clock. All Stages of the B & I Bill, which is certified a Money Bill, will be taken from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Item No. 3 will be taken at the conclusion of item No. 2, which is just the motion for earlier signature.
I am glad to be back here after my unfortunate absence. I am very glad you are there, because at least I will know when I am finished.
I cannot hear you.
On the matter of acoustics, there does seem to be a problem because I could not hear what Senator Ryan was saying. Yesterday some people said they could not hear what I was saying. There may be an acoustics problem in this Chamber. If there is, the people who deal with the acoustics should have a look at what is wrong.
The Committee agreed a fortnight ago to the provision of extra speakers in the House. We hope that will resolve the problem.
It may be that I am out of practice.
Could I suggest to the Committee that, rather than having extra speakers, there should be a relocation of the microphones around the House? That is part of the problem. The microphone of the Leader of the House, in particular, is "off voice". I believe Senator Ryan has a similar problem.
I would like to ask the Leader of the House what has happened to the debate on Northern Ireland? We had agreed to it. We were moving in that direction and had agreed the issues discussed. It was a very useful operation. I can project my voice; I did not think I needed to. I have to be particularly careful not to appear disorderly.
That is true.
It is most manifestly true. I would like to ask if we are going to have a debate on Northern Ireland?
I would like to ask two questions of the Leader of the House. The first is; can he give me any information about the present position of the amendments to the Clinical Trials Bill. This has a serious impact on persons in this country living with Aids. They are prevented from having access to a new drug called DDI. I have been asked to enquire about this.
The second question refers to the motion in the name of myself and a number of other people, including Fine Gael, about the Peace Train, which is a former motion. I do not have the number of it with me. I do not have the Supplementary Order Paper with me at the moment, regrettably. It is a particular proposal. It has been debated in the European Parliament. It has been passed by a number of local assemblies North and South. It would be a very useful, constructive, non-divisive subject. The Leader himself, through the Chair, indicated that it would be taken last Thursday. Unusual events intervened. We are back on course. Could I have an indication that this will be taken at an early date?
May I again ask Senator Lanigan if the Seanad will be meeting in the months of April and June? I want to thank him, as well, for the information that he gave me yesterday, namely, that the Business of the Dáil is the Dáil's business and that it has nothing to do wth the Seanad. Actually, I had learned that from some of his earlier interventions.
I also add my voice to what Senator Ryan has said in relation to the debate on Northern Ireland. I raised this yesterday. Senator Ryan, unfortunately, was not in the House yesterday. No doubt he would have raised it as well. We have been asking consistently over a long period of time that there would be a full-scale debate on Northern Ireland. I have listed a number of developments that have taken place even during this session. I wonder would the Leader of the House address the question again? This time he might give us some firm indication about when we might have a full-scale debate.
Yesterday we debated certain aspects in relation to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. It was pointed out by many speakers that we were talking about specific areas. We were not able to deal with the totality of the issues that people wanted to raise. Again, we see the whole question of the 48-hour rule in relation to Northern Ireland. It has been struck down in relation to Community law. That is another aspect that must be addressed. Perhaps this time the Leader of the House would give us a firm commitment to a debate on Northern Ireland in this House.
I would like to ask the Leader to consider item No. 89 as a matter of urgency — that the Government clarifies the position regarding the implications of the Supreme Court decision in Shelly v. District Justice Mahon. We believe this is a very serious issue and requires clarification urgently because of the situation that has arisen.
I would like to support the requests for a full debate on the whole Northern Ireland question. At present the British and Irish Inter-Parliamentary Group are meeting, and we could have a debate in a way. I am suggesting that we do not have to have the debate in a way that we either vote for or against something, or that we revolve it in any hard line way. We could have a debate that would be informative and very useful to the British and Irish Inter-Parliamentary Group in assessing their own situations. It could be done on an all-party basis. We could play a very useful role in helping this group, particularly if we have regard to the duration of the problems in the North. The sooner we take up the matter the better. I urge the Leader of the House to consider it in that context, not in the context of somebody putting a motion down to win or lose, but rather that it would be a full, open debate and that the information would be deliberately used for the benefit of the British and Irish Parliamentary Group.
On the question of the debate on Northern Ireland, I will ask the Whip, Senator McGowan, to discuss this matter with the other Whips at their meeting this morning. We have had a few debates on aspects of Northern Ireland policy here in the Seanad over the last couple of weeks. On the question that was raised about the Peace Train issue, I do not see any difficulty there at all. There was a technical difficulty about not having that debate last week. Unfortunately, business did not allow us to hold it this week. Again, I will ask the Whip to arrange that that debate take place next week, if possible.
On the Clinical Trials Bill, I accept the points raised by Senator Norris. I will raise that matter with the relevant Minister immediately after the meeting. I am addressing myself to the business for today, Senator Upton. The Whips will be addressing themselves to business for next week. I am not going to go down the road of discussing business for June, as of yet. The business of this House is arranged by the Leader of the House in consultation with the Ministers who need to be in the House.
On item No. 89, which Senator Neville raised, I will raise that matter with the Minister for Justice and get in touch with the Senator.
Order of Business agreed to.