Today's business is items 1, 2 and 3. Only Second Stage of item 1 will be taken, from now until 1 p.m., and I hope we can conclude it by then. Item 2 will be taken from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. and again from 8 p.m. until the conclusion of Second Stage. Item 3 will be taken between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. On items 2 and 3 I suggest a time limit of 20 minutes per speaker.
Order of Business.
Is it the Leader's intention to take Committee Stage of item 2 next week?
Yes.
I take it that item 3 will not conclude tonight?
Yes.
We are happy to support the Order of Business. The problem of drug abuse is in the public arena at present and has been raised many times by Members. When decriminalisation of drugs has been suggested previously it has been blown out of the sky as it has been interpreted to mean that one should be able to buy drugs in corner shops; nonetheless, this issue must be addressed and considered. As public representatives we must know the pluses and minuses of decriminalisation and a debate on it should take place. I do not purport to be an expert on the area but I know a certain amount and I have read what has happened in other countries. I ask the Department of Justice and the Government to give the official position and outline the research which has been done into the effect of decriminalisation, that is, changing drugs from being illegal substances into controlled substances, not making them freely available but obtainable under prescription or under the jurisdiction of medical personnel. This matter must be considered because the quickest way to put crime bosses and drug barons out of business is to ensure there is no business for them to do. Every aspect of the drugs issue must be considered and this is one matter on which I, as a public representative, have little information. I would welcome being informed, not in an emotive way but in a scientific and researched manner, about the impact of such a move.
The people campaigning for funds for independent living are again protesting outside the gates of the House today and the Government should make a positive response. They are not asking for much, simply for the continuation of funds for eight care assistants who have been removed and for permanent funding from now on. I appeal to the Leader to bring this message to the Minister and the Government.
The Minister has again side-stepped the Bord na Móna issue. It has gone on for too long and handing a document back to the board is not the way to resolve the problem. The chief executive officer and the chairman are appointees of the Government not of the board and the package involved was negotiated by the chief executive officer with the former chairman.
We cannot discuss the matter now.
This has dragged on for months. It appears the Minister is attempting to make a scapegoat of the board.
We are not discussing the matter. Has the Senator a question on today's Order of Business?
There has been a leak of information to discredit the chief executive and many people are aware from where the leak came. It is time for the Minister——
We are not discussing the matter.
The Leader of the House should ask the Minister to take the necessary decisions but not to make a scapegoat of the board of Bord na Móna.
The Leader indicated to us yesterday that we would be coming back on or around 26 July to deal with the crime issue. We indicated that we do not mind which day the Leader chooses and we are happy to facilitate him. However, I am unclear as to the business with which we will be dealing. Will we be dealing with the Organised Crime (Restraint and Disposal of Illicit Assets) Bill, 1996? It is an important Bill and I would like to see it ordered for that day.
Deputy Shorthall received what can only be described as a threat over the telephone — the sound of gunshots being fired was on her answering machine. Such activity must be condemned out of hand. We must make it clear we will not be deflected from our duty in tackling those responsible for such activity.
Will item 3, Statements on Agriculture, be concluded before the end of this session or carried forward? If there is a limit of 20 minutes per speaker there are a few Members who will not get to speak this evening.
Will the Leader raise with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the serious anomalies in the price of milk? In this country milk ranges in price from 99p to 116p per two litres while milk exported from this country retails at 75p per two litres. Neither the farmers nor the consumers are benefiting. Milk is part of the staple diet of poorer people. This issue has been ignored by the Minister. I have a copy of an advertisement which indicates that milk exported from this country is selling at 75p per two litres in Northern Ireland while consumers here are paying between 99p and 116p. Who is benefiting? I ask the Leader to raise this matter with the Minister and furnish an explanation to the House.
I support the sentiments expressed yesterday wishing Ireland well in its EU Presidency, particularly in matters of foreign affairs. The British Government has trouble with the "Euro-phobes". I would like to draw attention to the new transatlantic agenda and, in particular, the US treatment of Cuba. I hope Ireland will hold to its previously liberal line on this matter. Under the Helms-Burton Act, European and Canadian firms have been penalised for investing in Cuba. Will the Leader convey to the Government the concern regarding the treatment of Cuba?
Will the Leader find out from the Minister for Foreign Affairs what progress is being made in his attempts to have Irish promoted as a working language in the EU?
There has been a major reorganisation of the industrial promotion agencies over the last number of years. We now have IDA Ireland, Forfás, Forbairt, Shannon Development, county enterprise boards, the Leader programmes and a variety of other initiatives to increase employment. However, despite this, there has been criticism from towns like Ennis and Kilrush that they are not getting their fair share of industrial jobs. The new industries being attracted to Ireland seem to concentrate in the bigger cities.
Growing concern is being expressed in other towns. There was a meeting in Ennis recently, organised by the chamber of commerce, and it was pointed out that no major industry has been attracted to Ennis since 1992. Will the Leader arrange for the House to have a response from the Ministers involved in the various agencies as to how they can co-ordinate their activities to make them more effective? Despite the efforts of the agencies, the large towns seem to be faring badly.
In the context of anti-crime measures, I ask the Leader to impress on the Minister for Justice the importance of providing more funding to help the existing community training workshops to extend and to provide more places. They make an enormous contribution to crime prevention by way of remedial action. The Leader should impress on the Minister the importance of funding for the existing workshops and the need to bring new ones on stream.
The G7 meeting took place this week and it made an unequivocal call on the Israeli Government to deal directly with the Palestinians. When the G7, the group of the world's richest nations, makes a direct request we should echo it and request the new Israeli Government to start direct negotiations with the Palestinians on the issues which were supposedly resolved before the government changed in Israel.
A South African embassy will open in Dublin tomorrow. This will be an historic occasion. Dr. Kader Asmal, a Minister in the South African Government, will address the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. Would the Leader suggest to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges that Dr. Kader Asmal, a distinguished former Irish citizen should be asked to address the Seanad——
That would be a matter for Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
We should ask Dr. Kader Asmal to come to the House.
On a point of order, there is an established position that any decisions to invite persons to the House should not be raised in the House. Raising it in the House is merely a way to seek publicity and effectively cancels out any application.
The Senator is a great man for seeking publicity. I put a question to the Leader through the Chair. If Senator Lee is a little put out——
There will be a meeting of Committee on Procedure and Privileges this afternoon.
He has been using the Order of Business for his own publicity efforts for the last 25 years.
The Senator has the wrong man.
The difference is academic.
I hope the Senator does not think teachers are academics.
We asked the Leader for a debate on education. The Minister for Education circulated a report on the vocational education committees during the week. The demographic changes in the country should be addressed because not alone are the vocational education committee's——
A question to the Leader of the House.
We should have a debate on education. We have asked for it and it has not been offered.
There have been threats made against a Member of the other House and there has been much publicity about that. I have had threats made against me; I was told I would be the first to be burned. I live in a cul-de-sac and there was graffiti written on the pavement outside my door. The less we talk about these threats, the better.
The Order of Business is a great place for it.
Will the Leader ask the Minister for Justice to take these threats seriously, but not too seriously? There is no one in this House who has not been threatened.
I support Senator Finneran and ask the Leader to use his good offices with the Minister for Health to ensure that the Centre for Independent Living is sufficiently funded to continue providing assistants.
Would it be possible to have a debate on Bord na Móna at an early opportunity? I agree also with Senator Finneran. Bord na Móna is a creature of statute and the Houses of the Oireachtas established it so if there is a continuing problem, we should discuss it here.
Will the Leader convey concerns felt by a number of Members at the personal interference by Minister De Rossa in the choice of the board of management at St. Feargal's Family Resource Centre in Bray? He is behaving in a most outrageous way and is attempting to blackmail the current board by withholding money to put political cronies of his and his wife into office. Will he use his good offices with Minister De Rossa——
I am sure there is some other way to raise that matter.
I thank the Leader for arranging statements on agriculture tonight. I support the plea by Senator Dardis that the debate would be adjourned to a sitting day before the end of session and will not drag on over the summer because that would defeat its purpose. There is great interest in this debate and many people are anxious to contribute.
I do not know whether the Leader has any power in this area but will he try to get RTE to stick to their programming times as advertised in the RTE Guide or in the daily newspapers? I was interested in a programme last Sunday night and it did not appear until a quarter of an hour or 20 minutes after the time that was printed in the newspapers.
Extra time in the soccer match.
All we saw before that was some people mimicking the presenters of the previous programme.
I am sure the Senator could find some other way of raising that issue.
Senator Dardis raised the issue of the intimidation of a Member of the other House and we have to condemn that. This issue should not be dragged out but, nevertheless, it has to be taken seriously and should act as a spur in our efforts to combat organised crime.
The Government held up the legislation for six months.
I welcome the fact that the Government made major announcements yesterday and that all parties in both Houses are determined to take action. I support what has been said. It is not enough to announce measures and to indicate intentions and action. It is important that this House also plays its part in passing legislation. We will support extra sitting days before the end of this session if necessary.
I also support Senator McAughtry with regard to the EU Presidency and welcome the Taoiseach's indication that Ireland would endeavour to ensure that pro-jobs and anti-poverty measures will be incorporated with the more straightforward economic aspects of the Maastricht guidelines. I hope our Presidency will be used to further those issues.
The debate on agriculture has been raised by two previous speakers but there are many contentious matters being debated in agriculture. Will the Leader of the House provide for the continuity of that debate in the event of everybody not being able to contribute today?
Senator Roche should have made his statement outside the House in order to give the Minister an opportunity to reply.
I have already made it on local radio.
Senator Roche has already made his contribution.
It is no wonder he did not get nominated.
I will be going into detail here next week. It is scandalous behaviour to withdraw public funds from a group of women in Bray.
I join Senator Daly in his call for a look at industrial strategy. I was at a meeting recently where the IDA admitted that the packages they have available to foreign multinationals are good enough to get them into the country but not good enough to get them to locate outside major centres. The companies are saying they want to go to proven sites and do not intend to reinvent the wheel. A computer company wants to go where the next biggest computer company is because they have done the groundwork. This has to be looked at and I support the call for a debate.
With regard to Bord na Móna, I sincerely hope that when the Minister has to do the board's job, he will be supported by the Opposition.
There were a number of points raised by the Leader of the Opposition. The Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Bill, 1996, Committee Stage will be taken next Tuesday. For the information of Senators, next week's business will include Committee and Final Stages of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Bill, 1996, the Final Stages of the Borrowing Powers of Certain Bodies Bill, 1996, the debate on the Ombudsman's report and the National Standards Authority of Ireland Bill, 1996. There may also be a debate, if it is approved by Government, on the report on the newspaper industry — two days should accommodate that. The House will be recalled on 26 July and the Organised Crime (Restraint and Disposal of Illicit Assets) Bill, 1996, will be discussed and another short Bill appointing extra judges — one day should be sufficient.
Senator O'Toole raised the question of decriminalisation and he has a chance this afternoon to raise that question with the Minister for Justice where I hope he gets full information.
Senator Finneran and others raised the question of the Centre for Independent Living and I have passed on to the Minister the concern and support of the House on that issue.
The question of Bord na Móna was raised by a number of Senators. The Minister has behaved impeccably. It would have been wrong for him to intervene up to now. The Minister has rightly asked for clarification; perhaps one could be stronger than that. When that clarification is provided, the Minister will act, but the Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies is probably the most appropriate vehicle for early debate so that people can be called to give evidence and their views.
Senator Dardis and others raised the question of the intimidation of Deputy Shortall. Every Member has to endorse the strong stand taken by the Government on that and its utter condemnation. It must be taken seriously. There can be no ambiguity about how seriously these threats are to be taken and they cannot be tolerated.
Senator Dardis and others raised the question of the debate on agriculture. This debate has been requested by Senator Rory Kiely for some time. I had hoped to give plenty of time to the main spokespersons for each group to put their case but the debate will not conclude today. Of course, if Members wish, they may share their 20 minutes, which is a reasonable amount of time if somebody wants to make a major case. I will see whether there is time next week, but I cannot guarantee it.
I will inquire into the matter which Senator McGowan raised. I thought milk prices had been decontrolled.
Senator McAughtry raised the question of the US treatment of Cuba and there is certainly strong support for Cuba in both Houses and on the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. Many Members of this House have been to Cuba and seen it at first hand. I will find out for Senator Lee the progress made by the Tánaiste.
I can tell Senator Daly that there will be a major debate on industrial policy early in the new session.
Senator McDonagh made a good point about more funds for community training workshops and it will be conveyed to the Minister.
I have a certain sympathy with Senator Lanigan because I sometimes have trouble telling one University Senator from another. I support his point about dealing directly with the Palestinians. I will raise the other matter, which he should not have raised, at the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. There will be a debate on the vocational education committees early in the new session, as I said yesterday.
I have dealt with the question of Bord na Móna to which Senator Roche referred, and the Adjournment is the place to raise the other matter if he wants information on it.
I cannot help Senator Kiely with RTE's time changes.
Order of Business agreed to.