The business for today is item No. 1 and item No. 2 to be taken between now and 6 p.m., item No. 2 to conclude not later than 6 p.m. Item No. 16, motion 44, will be taken from 6.30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Order of Business.
The Leader of the House will remember that last November Fine Gael, under the name of Senator Neville, introduced a Bill to decriminalise suicide and there was a general agreement on all sides in the House that it was a worthy Bill and should become law as soon as possible. At that time we were promised by the then Minister for Justice, Deputy Burke, that the Department of Justice would shortly have a comprehensive Bill which would take that matter, as well as others, on board. We were told the Bill would be ready by Christmas, but we are now almost at Easter and there is no sign of it. Given the wide degree of support in all parts of the House and the considerable public support this party got for the contents of that Bill, I am asking the Minister if he ascertains from the Department that the promised Bill is not imminent, will he consider at this stage if our party reintroduces the Bill to see it through as a Private Members' Bill in the normal way? I believe there is a need for the Bill. Rather than waiting indefinitely, since there is so much agreement on the matter, it would be good for the Bill, good for the House and good for us all if he could agree to that.
There are a number of items I have raised over the past number of weeks with the Leader of the House on the Order of Business. There is a need for us to have outlined a programme of legislation it is intended to initiate in this House over the next number of months. The Leader of the House has given me assurances that he has been in contact with various Departments and that he was assembling a list of proposed legislation. It is time we got some indication from him on the matter.
Since Christmas I have been raising every week the need to have a debate on developments in Northern Ireland. I have been saying that for a wide variety of reasons and I do not intend going into all the reasons today. It is critically important for people in the North that they hear our words, even if they do not see our actions on these issues. Words are important. They really are the way in which eventually attitudes will be changed. I could not over-stress to the Leader of the House how important it is that we discuss this issue. It does not impact on anything that is happening in other places and there is no reason we should not debate it. Since I started to call for this debate 38 people have died in the North through assassination, murder, bombing, etc. Since I asked for a debate last week two people have been killed.
The Senator is making a speech.
I sense that and I did not intend to do that. I wish to re-emphasise the urgency for us to give our views on that subject. We are sick and tired of funerals. I have members of my organisation in the North attending funerals. I have had members losing their own children up there. It just gets worse and worse and I think we should at least speak out if we cannot do anything else at this point.
May I ask the Leader of the House what is the latest position in relation to the proposed debate on the Maastricht Protocol? In that regard, I hope the Taoiseach will hold his nerve in the face of the opposition he is now facing. The last thing this country needs is a divisive referendum on these matters.
I also welcome the decision of the Minister for Health to hold an inquiry into the matters which are at present being considered in relation to Beaumont Hospital and the neurology department there.
You are making statements now, Senator Upton. Will you please address a question to the Leader of the House on the business of the House for today?
May I ask the Leader of the House if he would consider at some stage in the future allowing a debate on health so that we can consider these matters and can help to reach a solution to what is a very serious problem for many people.
Finally, a Chathaoirligh — and I know this is something that is very dear to your own heart — I repeat my request that we have a debate on banking, and I think the "O'Keeffe initiative" should go after that in brackets. Has the position changed, given the developments which we have seen in this matter over the past week with the continuing escalation of the banking dispute?
I would like to ask the Leader of the House to convey our concern at the means testing of the ESF maintenance grants for third level students. I am asking now because students at this moment are getting ready for their leaving certificate examination and are totally perplexed as to whether they will qualify for grants. Will the Leader of the House ask the Minister for Education to abandon his proposals for the means testing of the maintenance grants because, effectively, from figures I have got seven out of ten students——
You are making a speech, Senator Jackman.
I would just like to comment on what Senator Upton said about an inquiry. I think it is lamentable that professional and business people should behave in such a way that it leads to inquiries.
Senator Norris, I have already ruled Senator Upton out of order and I must be consistent.
I quite understand that. Perhaps we could establish an inquiry centre like the Financial Services Centre where we could take on all the inquiries, there seems to be such an enthusiasm for them.
The Senator is being mischievous, and not for the first time.
Never, I could not be mischievous. If I was, a Chathaoirligh, I know that your good humour would allow you to approach the subject in a proper manner.
May I ask a serious question? It could be taken as mischievous, but is actually quite serious. We had indications over a period of months that we were going to have a Bill to deal with the subject of telephone tapping. This precipitated a particular political situation which seems to have disappeared. I ask the Leader if he will give an indication if it is intended to take the telephone tapping Bill in this session. I do not, of course, expect an answer today, but perhaps the Leader could let us know tomorrow?
May I ask the Leader also to express concern to the Minister for the Environment about the appearance on Ballybough Road of a Benetton advertisement showing a burning car where it constitutes an incitement to people?
It has nothing to do with the Order of Business for today, as the Senator well knows.
I am trying to get it to be part of the Order of Business. I understand there is a case before the courts at the moment dealing with the Gaming and Lotteries Act as a result of which some amusement arcades may open. Should a particular result emerge, will the Leader inquire from the Minister for Justice whether the Government will ensure that these pernicious dens are not permitted to re-open all over the city. They are being refurbished at the moment, which is very ominous.
I would like to ask the Leader if he would ask the Minister for Industry and Commerce to come to this House in the weeks ahead after he has the beef tribunal behind him and make either——
Ha, ha.
It is not funny. There should be statements in this House or a debate on whether we should restructure the IDA and SFADCo when we read in the papers recently the cost of a job.
I support Senator Manning in his request that the Government introduce a Bill to decriminalise suicide. Secondly, I would like to ask the Leader of the House to convey to the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the Minister for Industry and Commerce our concern with the proposal that the Goodman group purchase the assets and factories of the UMP group. We would be concerned that a monopoly situation would arise——
Again, it is not relevant to the Order of Business for today, and the Senator knows that.
It is of concern. The result could be detrimental to the agricultural community and reduce their income further.
Be that as it may, it is not appropriate to the Order of Business for today.
May I ask the Leader of the House if he has any further information on when the Taoiseach will visit the House, particularly in the context of what my colleague Senator Upton referred to, that we would be very interested in assuring him that we would like him to keep his nerve in relation to the matter of a referendum, so that the country will not be subjected to the trauma and confusion experienced in 1983.
Secondly, may I ask the Leader of the House if he will consider now that we should have a debate on education in view of the recent statement from the Minister for Education that he intends to bypass one of the steps of producing a document on education, despite the fact that it is in total breach of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress and that we are not apparently going to have the wide ranging public debate that was outlined. I am requesting the Leader that we now have an opportunity to debate the matter. We were looking for a debate on education before and my understanding is that the Leader of the House indicated there would not be a debate until such time as the Green Paper was produced. Now it appears we are not going to have the Green Paper, so that when we do have a document it will be a White Paper, which will be a preliminary to legislation. There are too many fundamental philosophical and educational issues involved.
I think the Senator has made his point.
I would also like to ask for a debate on the banks, the O'Keeffe initiative that was referred to already. I think it is important. We were again foregoing that. I think we should have that debate now because of the industrial action and the IBOA ballot at present. We now have a unilateral decision by the banks to change the conditions of the workers in the banks. I think it is high time we had a debate and I would ask the Leader of the House to facilitate us in that.
Finally, I refer to Motion 46 on the Order Paper in relation to the Nicky Kelly case and ask the Leader of the House if he has any up-to-date information as to whether at this time the Attorney General has reported to the Minister for Justice, whether the Minister for Justice has referred the matter to the Cabinet and whether we are going to get a decision on that.
I would like to ask the Leader if we could have an early debate on the processing and marketing of beef in the light of the statements which have been made this morning with regard to the possible ownership UMP by the Goodman group. A full debate in this House would be appropriate and timely. That debate should take place at an early date. It would not be advisable, in my view, that any type of monopoly would develop. I would also like to ask the Leader if we could have this long-awaited debate on banking at an early date. Finally, I urge that we have a debate on Northern Ireland as soon as possible.
I would like to support the calls that have been made for a debate on Northern Ireland. We have been suggesting this since Christmas. Over the past few months, it seems to me we have been preoccupied with matters that are far less important.
I would also like to echo Senator Costello's question in relation to what happened the proposed visit from the Taoiseach. Apart from anything else, he might welcome a visit to this House, which would afford him temporary political asylum. Seriously, the Leader promised us the Taoiseach would come to this House and the fact that the visit has not materialised is a great disappointment.
I think it would be important to note today that this is the first day of operation of the Radiological Protection Institute. As I mentioned on the Order of Business last week, there was a nuclear accident in Russia. I would like to ask the Leader of the House that at some stage we might have a debate on the whole question of nuclear energy throughout the world and Ireland's role in that. I am sure the House would like to wish the Radiological Protection Institute well in opposing nuclear energy throughout the world. Perhaps the Leader would consider a debate on that issue at some stage in the future.
The first matter that was raised by Senator Manning related to the proposed legislation on suicide. I sought clarification on that last week and I have not yet received it. Certainly, I would be in a position to consider whatever option would be best. Hopefully, the Minister will give details on that quite soon.
Senator O'Toole mentioned legislation. I know that the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulations) Bill, 1991, will be with us after Easter. I hope that will be published on Seanad paper quite soon. One or two other Departments have suggested to me they would be keen to initiate legislation in the House and I hope that will materialise.
In relation to Maastricht, in this House we have made every effort to continue an all-party approach to our proposed debate. I hope we keep that and perhaps when all parties have had a chance to debate the proposed wording of the amendment to the Protocol, we will come back to the House on that.
In regard to a debate on the banks dispute, I mentioned before that, in view of the labour relations situation there, I genuinely feel it would not appropriate at this time to have a debate in the House. I will certainly pass on Senator Jackman's comments to the Minister for Education. Senator Honan mentioned the IDA. Next week the debate on the Culliton report will be an ideal opportunity to raise points relating to the IDA.
In regard to the Taoiseach's visit, I am convinced that the Taoiseach will come to the House. Perhaps with the reforms being made in this House, it might be an opportune time for him to come here and make some comments on the House itself and I will suggest that to him.
As regards the Nicky Kelly affair, which was mentioned last week, I have not the update on that this week. In regard to the point on education, the Taoiseach answered that query this morning. They are still deciding what position will be taken.
Read the Programme for Economic and Social Progress.
Exactly. In regard to Senator Haughey's questions, I am sure we will get a chance to have a debate after Easter on nuclear energy.
Order of Business agreed to.