Before I announce the Order of Business for today I would inform colleagues that it is proposed to sit three days next week and two days — Tuesday and Wednesday — the following week. Today's business is items 1, 2 and 3. Item 3 will be taken at 1 p.m. for 30 minutes. It is proposed that the Tánaiste will speak for ten minutes, each speaker thereafter will have five minutes and the statements will conclude at 1.30 p.m. If the morning's business has not concluded there will be a sos from 1.30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and we will recommence at 2 p.m.
Order of Business.
I thank the Leader of the House for indicating the sittings for the next two weeks. I referred yesterday to two motions under item 14, motions 2 and 21. With regard to funding for Border areas, we are concerned about the funds available from Structural Funds, the Delors package, the Clinton package and Exchequer funds. We would not wish these funds to be subsumed into Exchequer funds; they are important for the development of the Border counties. Would the Leader find time to discuss this matter between now and the Christmas recess or make it a priority for the new year?
Senator Finneran will refer to motion 21. As we understand newspaper reports on the Minister for Health's discussions in relation to this matter, we are not happy with the state of affairs. We would like the matter discussed in the House as soon as possible.
I wish to raise the issue of the Intergovernmental Conference. We discussed the Reflection Group last week but the time was probably too short for the number of speakers who wished to contribute. Few of the Members had access to information about the Intergovernmental Conference. Some speakers felt they were not kept informed. The Institute for European Affairs, which is a non-partisan group, has issued an accessible and comprehensive document on the Intergovernmental Conference. Consideration should be given to supplying each Member of the Oireachtas with a copy of that report. It is an accessible document which covers the issues. Senator Lanigan, among others, made the point last week that we need more information.
The Reflection Group did not deal with the common European currency which, for most people, is the crucial issue. Having got information for people, I ask the Leader that we address the implications for Ireland of a single European currency and whether the UK will join, which was not addressed last week in any comprehensive way. I am trying to keep a debate going on this important European issue. Members of the Joint Committee on European Affairs are kept reasonably up to date but other Members of the House are not aware of the issues. I propose that each Member should receive, if possible, a copy of the Institute of European Affairs' significant study, which was led by former Senator Dooge. We should have a further discussion on European currency.
I support the remarks made by Senator O'Toole in respect of the Intergovernmental Conference, which is coming quickly. It is important for us to discuss its impact. The future of the Defence Forces has been brought up on almost a weekly basis for many weeks, dating back to the last session. It is important to address and allay, if possible, those concerns. I recommend to the Leader to make time available to consider defence issues between now and the recess.
Yesterday, the Leader indicated that many economic concerns could be dealt with under the Appropriation Bill. Is he confident that we will have a Book of Estimates to consider when we come to deal with the Appropriation Bill? Should we congratulate the Labour Party Minister for Finance on putting spending constraints on the Fine Gael Party?
We are not discussing the matter now.
They might lift the tax on horse breeders.
I think that he is trying to put constraints on the Minister, Deputy Proinsias De Rossa, at the moment. Has the Leader's attention been drawn to the report of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland which has issued disturbing facts in relation to radiation accidents and the problems in relation to radon in private dwellings? Could the Leader indicate when we will have an opportunity to discuss the report? Could the Minister of State, Deputy Stagg, who is responsible for these matters, give the House some indication of what will be done about this report? The report pointed to very high levels of radon in houses, which indicates the necessity for Government finances to deal with the situation. Radiation accidents are even more disturbing. Can we have an explanation of the licences which allow people to use radiation in order to ensure that people are protected from the dangers?
Will the Leader convey to the Government the support of the House, which I hope comes from all sides, for adhering to the fiscal discipline which has been an essential component of the economic wellbeing which we now enjoy? I was privileged to be a member of the Government in 1987, which took difficult decisions and laid the foundation for the economic growth which we now enjoy. Will the Leader convey, on behalf of the House, our commitment to maintaining that programme, which is linked with the Maastricht guidelines? If we let it go now, all that we have achieved in the last number of years will be forfeited.
If there are to be controls on public expenditure — with which I agree entirely as I was part of the Government which did it — I suggest looking at the growth in the number of agencies in recent years and, at the same time, maintaining the social programme which is a vitally important element of our society.
Will the Leader of the House ask the Minister of Health to come here to respond to the matter mentioned by my leader, which is the report that he has made an offer to those infected by anti-D products and who are suffering from hepatitis C? This scandal occurred as a result of the negligence of a State agency whereby 1,300 women were infected. What has been reported does not meet the demands of the women involved. They have demanded that the tribunal be set up on a statutory basis, which I understand is not part of the Minister's proposal.
We are not discussing the matter now. I ask the Senator to put a question to the Leader.
The Leader and the House are aware that my party withdrew a motion in this House some time ago on the basis of allowing discussions between Positive Action and the Minister for Health. Those discussions are now complete, according to the reports, but they have not met the demands of Positive Action or of the motion which we withdrew and which is still on the Order Paper. Will the Leader provide Government time, possibly next week or the week after, to discuss the Minister's proposals? Otherwise, my party will be forced to move its motion on the matter. However, I would prefer if the Leader allowed Government time for this serious matter which we have held on the agenda in order to allow the Minister to finalise his discussions and reach agreement. That has obviously not taken place, according to today's reports.
We are not discussing the matter any further.
I ask the Leader to provide Government time before Christmas to discuss this matter.
Will the Leader of the House request the Minister for Justice to get out her starting blocks in order to be ready for the British move towards Central European Time, as I understand that a Private Members' Bill on Central European Time is coming before the House of Commons in the very near future? I brought this up on a number of occasions and received a good hearing from the Minister in the past. We are afraid to leave the nursery unless nanny comes with us — we should be willing to leave the nursery now, even it nanny does not come with us. If we move now, before the British do, it will help to push them in the direction of the benefits which we will get from Central European Time. It would be a shame for us to be seen once again to follow rather than lead.
Will the Leader ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry to be aware of the threat and opportunity posed by the BSE threat to beef in the British market? Steps have been taken in the last 24 hours which threaten the whole beef industry. It is a serious threat to us but it is also an opportunity for Ireland to single itself out as Irish beef is different and consumers can be confident of its quality.
I am glad that Senators O'Toole and Dardis raised the matter of the reflection group on the Intergovernmental Conference. I raised that matter yesterday and suggested that there was not enough information in order to have a debate. The Minister made a minor attack on me and suggested that if I had telephoned his office he would have given me any information he had on the matter. However, all that was on offer was a preview of the script which he was going to read to the Seanad. The Dooge report is an excellent report on the review group and the Intergovernmental Conference. I join with the other Members in asking, as I did yesterday, for a full debate on the reflection group's work. The Minister suggested that I was wrong in saying that we did not have enough information, but obviously the other Members agree with me.
Can we have a discussion with the Minister on the role of the Office of the DPP, the rules on bail and the release of defendants pending a DPP report? People are committing crimes in this country and it takes up to 12 months in some cases and sometimes up to 18 months——
We are certainly not discussing the matter now.
I am just asking the Leader to ask the Minister to come here to discuss this matter. A convicted murderer left Ireland for 18 months and came back of his own volition——
We are not discussing the matter now. The Senator has put his question to the Leader, who knows quite clearly what the Senator wants.
Will the Leader ask the Minister to come here to discuss the role of the DPP? He suggested before that perhaps the Seanad was not the right place to discuss the role of the DPP, but I ask him to ask the Minister for Justice to come here——
The Senator has made his point very clearly to the Leader of the House.
I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for Justice to come here to discuss the DPP's role——
Thank you, Senator. You have made your point clearly to the Leader.
I also wish to raise the issue of women affected by hepatitis C. I spoke to members of Positive Action last night, who were disappointed that their negotiations with the Minister had ended without agreement. They acknowledge the health proposals offered are what they wanted; their difficulty is with the tribunal. They were willing to set aside the demand for a statutory tribunal if agreement could be reached with the Minister and there are only a few outstanding matters relating to the permanency of the tribunal and interim payments.
The Supplementary Estimate for the tribunal will be before the Dáil Select Committee on Social Affairs today but this House has never had an opportunity to discuss the issue. It is essential that the Minister for Health come here by next week at the latest, especially since this scandal first came to our attention in February 1994.
I call for a debate on the committee set up by the Taoiseach on devolution of powers to local authorities. The vast majority of Members of this House are on local authorities and it is appropriate that the issue be debated here.
Later today the UK immigration authorities will announce their intention to deport a 19 year old Nigerian student — today happens to be his birthday. His father has already been deported and has disappeared into the jails of the Abacha regime. I ask the Leader to pass our concerns about the human rights implications of this extraordinary decision to the Tánaiste. Is it possible for him, as our Minister for Foreign Affairs, to contact his British counterpart as a matter of urgency to offer asylum to this young man, the second member of his family to be deported to this odious, pariah regime? I am sure the Leader shares my horror at this news.
Second, is it possible for the House to debate in the near future the need for an independent inspectorate for all closed institutions, particularly child care institutions, State funded nursing homes, State care institutions of any kind and prisons? Across this wide range of areas we do not have an independent inspectorate. There is a continuing outcry about the revelations we here almost daily about institutions of one form or another.
We are not discussing the matter now, Senator. A question to the Leader, please.
I ask that we soon have a discussion on an independent inspectorate. We will have further revelations on Trudder House in the near future.
The matter I wish to raise was discussed here yesterday. The Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach are studying the comments of a High Court judge who felt unable to impose a life sentence on a person convicted of a number of rapes and serious sexual assaults. I am pleased it is being examined.
A question for the Leader.
We should have a debate in the House to discuss the problems which have arisen so that the Minister for Justice will know the feelings of people across the country who were shocked that the judge could not impose a life sentence. We should also discuss whether the name of the person convicted of such serious assaults should be published.
That will be a matter for the debate which takes place; we are not discussing the issue today.
The reason I raise the point——
A question for the Leader.
We need to look at the issue in a sensitive manner because we must take into account the feelings of the victims and their relatives on one hand but also the situation which may occur——
Senator, I think you have made your point clearly to the Leader.
——when those who have been convicted of these crimes are released after five years and re-enter society. There is a danger that people may not be aware why they have been convicted. I think this is of importance.
Senator Wright asked for a debate on the moneys for Border areas. That will be a priority in the next session. Senator O'Toole and Senator Lanigan raised the Intergovernmental Conference debate last week. The question of absence of information is a difficult one. Due to the way we organise our budgetary affairs I am not in a position to order copies of the excellent Dooge report from the Institute of European Affairs, which should be available to us for such an important debate. One possible approach is to invite the former Senator and former Minister, Professor Dooge, to speak to the House in the next session on the implications and for a question and answer session. This could be useful and I will put this on the agenda for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. It would probably have support from all sides of the House.
There will not be a debate on defence before the end of this session but we will try to have one early next session. I am happy to inform Senator Dardis and Senator O'Kennedy that the Estimates debates are proceeding responsibly, amicably, calmly and, as always, with the public good at heart. I can assure them the outcome will be to the advantage of the country, but I will convey the Senators' support for fiscal rectitude to the appropriate quarters.
I did not only start supporting fiscal rectitude today.
I know of the Senator's ongoing support for that aim, but I am pleased about the support he has offered the Government in its deliberations.
Senator Finneran, Senator Wright and Senator Honan raised the serious matter of hepatitis C. My understanding is that a great deal of agreement has been reached, there is much common ground and some of the outstanding difficulties may still be resolved. I understand the concern of Members from all sides. We had a debate on this issue early this year in Government time. I ask Members to wait until we get an official clarification from both sides. It would not be helpful if we rushed to debate an issue which has not finally been resolved, especially one as emotional and sensitive as this. I will keep the matter under review and we can talk about it next week as events unfold.
Senator Quinn asked about Central European Time. I do not see an immediate possibility of a debate on that subject in the House, but many feel he has a good case. I will see that it is kept under review. Perhaps a more important issue, raised by Senator O'Kennedy yesterday and Senator Quinn today, is BSE. There are concerns about the damage it can cause and mixed and confused signals are coming from the British administration at present. This is an opportunity to stress the quality and BSE free nature of Irish beef, to turn what looks like being a catastrophe into an opportunity. I am grateful to the Senators for raising the matter in a positive way.
I have dealt with Senator Lanigan's point about a debate and information on the Intergovernmental Conference. The question of the DPP is under review at present but next week both Senator Lanigan and Senator Enright will have an opportunity, during the Courts and Courts Officers Bill, to raise the issues they have brought to the attention of the House, such as sentencing policy.
I strongly support Senator Burke's proposal for a debate on the devolution of powers to local authorities and there would be strong support in the House for an informed debate on that topic. I thank him for raising the issue.
Senator Roche raised the human rights issue in the UK. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs will be in the House later today and perhaps we can pass on our concerns in this regard to him then. I have taken note of the other points the Senator raised as a possible topic of debate and will talk to him about that later. Senator Enright raised valid and important questions, as he always does. Most of them can be dealt with under the Courts and Courts Officers Bill. Otherwise I urge him to use his special relationship with the Minister to raise the issues there.
Is the Order of Business agreed?
A Chathaoirligh, I asked a question of the Leader.
I beg the Senator's pardon. I overlooked the important issue raised by Senator Daly. I am aware of the report from the Radiological Protection Agency and I listened to Mr. O'Flaherty this morning on "Morning Ireland". The points made are very important and serious. I will convey the concerns of the Senator and the House to the Minister, Deputy Stagg.
Might we have a half hour debate on it?
We will find time to debate it in the new year.
Order of Business agreed to.