Today's Order of Business is items 1, 2 and item 12, motion 16, which will be taken at 6 p.m. All Stages of item 1 will be taken today with debate, the contribution of each spokesperson on Second Stage not exceeding 15 minutes and that of other Senators not exceeding ten minutes. Senators may share time. For the information of the House, the amendment to the Private Members' motion has been circulated on a Supplementary Order Paper.
Order of Business.
On the Referendum Bill, I was surprised that speakers after spokespersons will be confined to ten minutes. These issues are important. I do not believe there will be too many speakers offering and ten minutes is too short a time and I ask the Leader to change it. I take it that as it is proposed to take all Stages today, there will be no curtailment of time and as much as is needed will be given. It is not a good idea to take all Stages of the Bill today. While there is a certain urgency, it is a bad practice to take all Stages of an important Bill on the same day and I hope this will not be seen as a precedent. I do not see a great case for it so perhaps the Leader will explain when replying.
I welcome the decision of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to reform the law on criminal insanity. Will the Leader indicate the status of the mental health Bill, which was at an advanced stage of preparation when the last Government left office?
Both sides of the House gave a commitment on South American adoptions prior to the election. The Leader gave a commitment last week to deal with the matter and restore it to the Order Paper. If there is no satisfactory explanation for its absence and the opinion of the Attorney General is not made available to us, it is grossly unfair not to do so. Commitments were made. It is unacceptable that the issue is not on the Order Paper. I will not move an amendment today but I will do so every day if I do not get a satisfactory indication of progress on this issue.
I have no problems with the allocation of time for the items to be discussed but I am unsure about all Stages of legislation being taken on the one day. We laid down guidelines to ensure this would not happen. I do not see the need to conclude this Bill today. We could conclude it equally well tomorrow or indeed next week.
Item 9 refers to the text of the referendum. It remains unchanged even though there is a precise text. I hope we will not be proposing one text in this House and another in the other House.
Item 7 is the Private Members' Bill on the protection of workers as tabled by the Labour Party. We have asked for a debate on industrial relations and it becomes more pressing as we enter the seventh week of the industrial dispute in Ryanair. All sides of the House are agreed it is extremely disappointing that we cannot find a mediated solution. It is high time this House had a debate on all aspects of industrial relations, particularly since this dispute is at the heart of Partnership 2000 and could endanger that agreement if there are cowboy operators who refuse to accept normal principals of mediation and a normal framework of industrial relations. I would like to see the other participants, the farmers and the business sector, voicing their concerns about the serious threat to Partnership 2000 arising from the failure of Ryanair to accept the normal form of mediation.
The debate we had last Friday on foreign affairs was remarkable because there was unanimity on all sides on the need for a peaceful solution to the crisis between Iraq and the United States. Thankfully there has been progress in that respect over the weekend. There should be a mechanism whereby the participants in the crisis, the United States Ambassador and Iraqi Government representatives, be invited to listen to the debate or that the text of the debate be made available to them.
All of us are anxious to have the Foreign Adoptions Bill brought back before the House. There is all-party agreement on that. However, we know there have been difficulties regarding legal opinion on the matter and these had to be dealt with. The families promoting the Bill would prefer that it be correctly framed. There is an anxiety to have it done quickly. That is what has emerged from discussions I have had in the past week. People are very anxious that the Bill be dealt with correctly rather than quickly but they are also anxious that the matter be dealt with quickly. This is clear to me from discussions I have had during the past week. I am confident that the Bill will be restored to the Order Paper within a very short period. I hope that the Leader will be able to confirm that to us.
I move amendment No. 1 to the Order of Business:
That Item No. 3 be taken immediately after the Order of Business in place of Item 2.
This is an extremely important matter which has occupied some of the keenest political brains in the State — Deputy Spring, Senator Jackman and Senator Coogan. It is unusual for a Member from another constituency to intervene and prepare legislation without the courtesy of discussion with the representatives of the consituency concerned, particularly when the intervention is accompanied by lectures on democracy. I looked the figures up and I note that Senator Jackman received 45 votes in the Seanad election and Senator Coogan 62. I received 4,866 so I feel quite comfortable listening to lectures on democracy. We are told that university Members are nominated by a rotten borough. The nominating bodies are such as the Royal Irish Academy and the Society of the Motor Industry, and all 900 votes, with the exception of about 15 are controlled by the three major parties. I would welcome, this very afternoon, an extensive and wide ranging debate in which Members will no doubt feel inclined to raise the question of the Bible, in which we are told that it is important, before one seeks to remove the mote from one's neighbour's eye, to remove the branch from one's own. I will attempt to remove the tree from Senator Jackman's eye when I find her. Perhaps she, as a Christian, will remove the large and flourishing acacia bushes growing in the right eye of Deputy Spring.
The Senator has an advantage. He is totally blind. A visionary.
Will the Leader direct the attention of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources to the great difficulties being experienced by the fish producing industry in Killybegs. The Minister appointed a task force to examine the difficulties of the herring boats.
This is not in order. We cannot have a discussion on the fishing problems in Killybegs on the Order of Business. If the Senator wishes to have a discussion on that matter I suggest that he submit a motion for discussion on the Adjournment. I will be happy to provide him with the opportunity to raise the points he wishes to make.
I accept your ruling but this is a very grave and serious matter.
That is all the more reason the Senator should put it down in the form of a motion for discussion on the Adjournment.
Twelve hundred jobs are involved.
We have had statements in this House on the Seagate closure. I agreed with that but I would like to highlight the difficulties being faced by 1,200 employees and up to 2,000 people in service industries. I would like the Leader to bring this to the attention of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources.
I am sure that the fishermen of Killybegs have every confidence in the Senator and know that he will pursue the matter with the Minister.
The problem concerns employees in the fish producing factories, not fishermen.
I was taken aback to hear that Senator Dardis is worried that we might proceed too quickly with the foreign adoptions Bill. It was agreed last August that this matter would be dealt with as soon as possible. There is no fear of this moving too quickly. Many people are depending on us to get the Bill back on the Order Paper as quickly as possible. I support Senator O'Toole's call to have this legislation on tomorrow's Order Paper. The Leader has stated that he will be back with that business. We need a full explanation today and a guarantee that it will be on tomorrow's Order Paper.
Can we have structured discussions on the 2K bug — the millennium bug. This is an important issue and we need to be told how the public service is preparing itself to ensure that no problems arise. We would be doing a great public service if we continue to highlight this issue so that the private sector is aware of the difficulties which could arise if computers are not adapted in time to cope with the change of date. We should also discuss progress on the management initiative in the public service. This issue does not grab everyone's attention as being madly exciting. However, it is enormously important to the governance of the country that the public service gets its act right.
This year is the bicentenary of the 1798 Rebellion and we should have a day of structured discussions on the rising, its implications for the country and progress made over the past 200 years. We should commemorate the rising by spending time in reflective consideration.
I second the amendment to the Order of Business. For many years Senator Jackman has expressed the view that this is a matter of great urgency and I would like to see it dealt with once and for all before the by-elections.
On a more serious matter, I regret that we did not have the opportunity to debate Northern Ireland last week. However, I understand why we were discouraged from doing so. In the light of the fact that the Taoiseach rightly saw fit to take part in expelling Sinn Féin from the talks last week, he should be asked to explain to the House why he welcomed members of Provisional Sinn Féin to Government Buildings yesterday. This undermined the disapproval which both Governments and all parties expressed last week. This is a serious matter. It is somewhat farcical when the leader of this country takes part in a serious expulsion and, three or four days later, says "don't take any notice of it lads, come in here you are welcome." Is he or is he not in favour of violence in this country?
We cannot debate this matter now.
Does he condemn violence with a full heart or is this a semi-condemnation — crocodile tears for those who were murdered in Northern Ireland?
We cannot discuss this matter now. The Senator is seeking a debate on Northern Ireland.
It is very important that the Taoiseach comes into the House and explains himself.
Senator Manning called for more time for speakers on the Referendum Bill. I propose 15 minutes for all speakers. Senators other than spokespersons may share their time. The Mental Health Bill is coming before both Houses later this year and I will be only too pleased to meet any of the Senator Manning's requests.
I asked about the status of that Bill.
I will come back to the Senator later today on that matter. Senators O'Toole, Dardis and Doyle expressed strong views on the Adoption (No. 2) Bill. The Bill has passed Cabinet and will be restored to the Order Paper within the next 48 hours. I will try to make time available for a debate on industrial relations as requested by Senator Costello. This is an important topic on which the Senator has great concerns.
I cannot agree to the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senators Norris and Ross. I have structured the business for today with various Ministers, as Senators will understand I will try to facilitate their request at the earliest possible opportunity if they accede to my wish. Legislation must come first and I know Senators will seriously consider postponing their request to another day when I will be only too pleased to facilitate them.
Senator Bonner expressed concern for the 1,200 people employed in the marine industry. I will discuss the matter with him after the Order of Business to see how he can be facilitated.
Senator Doyle requested a debate on all implications of the millennium. This is a genuine topic and I would be pleased to facilitate the Senator. I would also be pleased to accede to the request for statements on our progress since 1798 and the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the event. I look forward to visiting Wexford during the year, as I am sure do many Senators, for the important conferences on this topic.
Senator Ross expressed his views on the debate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs last Friday. The Minister issued a detailed and comprehensive statement in which Northern Ireland was included. He allowed much discussion and many views were expressed about Northern Ireland. I understand the Sinn Féin Party was not expelled but suspended from the talks. I thought the debate last Friday was very full and I thank the Senators who participated.
Amendment put.
The Seanad divided: Tá, 7; Níl, 29.
Tá
- Costello, Joe.
- Gallagher, Pat.
- Henry, Mary.
- Norris, David.
- O'Toole, Joe.
- Ross, Shane.
- Ryan, Brendan.
Níl
- Bohan, Eddie.
- Bonner, Enda.
- Burke, Paddy.
- Callanan, Peter.
- Cassidy, Donie.
- Chambers, Frank.
- Dardis, John.
- Doyle, Avril.
- Doyle, Joe.
- Farrell, Willie.
- Finneran, Michael.
- Fitzgerald, Liam.
- Fitzgerald, Tom.
- Fitzpatrick, Dermot.
- Gibbons, Jim.
- Glynn, Camillus.
- Kett, Tony.
- Kiely, Dan.
- Leonard, Ann.
- Lydon, Don.
- Manning, Maurice.
- Moylan, Pat.
- O'Brien, Francis.
- O'Donovan, Denis.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- Ó Murchú, Labhrás.
- Quill, Mairín.
- Taylor-Quinn, Madeleine.
- Walsh, Jim.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Norris and Ross; Níl, Senators Dardis and T. Fitzgerald.
Amendment declared lost.
Order of Business agreed to.