Today's Order of Business is items 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Item 1 is to be taken without debate; item 2, Economic and Monetary Union Bill, 1998, Committee and Remaining Stages; item 3, Industrial Development (Enterprise Ireland) Bill, 1998 [Seanad Bill amended by Dáil], Report and Final Stages; item 4, Firearms (Temporary Provisions) Bill, 1998, all Stages with the contributions of spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and those of other Senators not to exceed eight minutes; and item 5, Criminal Justice (Release of Prisoners) Bill, 1998, all Stages with the contributions of spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and those of other Senators not to exceed eight minutes.
Order of Business.
I join with the Cathaoirleach in the customary expression of thanks at the end of session. The Leader pre-empted us yesterday. So fulsome were his tributes, they could almost have been put to backing music. I join in the thanks expressed to all people who made the House work so smoothly — the officials of the House, the media and the ushers. I particularly thank the Leader of the House for his courtesy and co-operation during the last session.
Regarding today's Order of Business, I will agree to item 1 being taken without debate but it is an important motion and we should know what it is. It would be of great help to us all if we knew the Government's thinking at this stage on the proposed standards in public office to which this motion refers. It was a part of the Programme for Government and it is now over a year since the Government took office. I know the issues are difficult but it would be of help to us all if we had interim information on its view.
There should be the widest possible consultation on this proposal because it affects every Member of each House and the views of Members must be taken into account while the legislation is being devised. It is particularly appropriate that the proposals will be referred to the Seanad and Dáil Select Committees on Members' Interests. Members should be aware of that and feel free to inform the Seanad Committee of their views on this matter. We will only do this once and we should get it right. We must also take every care to realise that the problems we are grappling with are common to every jurisdiction and we should learn from the experiences of parliaments elsewhere.
Item 6 on the Order Paper is a Private Members' Bill, introduced by Deputy Shatter, which has passed the Lower House. Will the Leader give early consideration to this Bill when the House resumes in the autumn?
On behalf of the Independent Members I join in thanking the staff of the House for the extraordinarily good work they have done during the session. This is, I think, the first time in the history of the State that the Seanad has sat on an equal number of days as the Dáil. This has been done with no increase in personnel or in the support structure available to the staff of the House. This situation should be noted and perhaps examined by the Committee on Procedures and Privileges. We must ensure that the staff are properly resourced to deal with this additional work load. I thank all the staff for their efficiency and effectiveness which is tempered with good humour and directness where necessary.
I thank the Leader for the work he has done and for his openness in ordering the business of the House. We have learned his little ways.
There will always be a new one.
When he cannot be found — as he could not be this morning — it is usually because there is something he is not telling us. This morning's difficulty was that we had not given him specific times. He knows we have a strict rule that times should be given for all items of business. I understand his difficulty today and it will not be a major issue. He has maintained the tradition of openness to discussion, established by previous Leaders of the House.
I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for the good humour and calmness with which you have dealt with difficult situations and which you have allowed permeate to the Members of the House. I thank the reporting staff and representatives of the media.
The work of the reporting staff is rarely mentioned. There is nothing more humbling than to read a verbatim account of what one has said. I admire the ingenuity and creativity of reporters and transcribers who manage to turn our spur of the moment outbursts into complete sentences with perfect syntax. They create for the historical record a sense of our proceedings which is vastly superior to the reality. I thank them for that.
I support Mr. Manning's point concerning item 1. There is a tradition in the Houses of the Oireachtas that Members attend necessary meetings, come to the Houses for Votes and when they intend to speak and see to their constituency business. We often forget our responsibility for what is happening in the Houses. I spoke yesterday on the terms of reference for the Flood Tribunal and I do not intend reopening that debate. Senator Manning's point is a crucial one and I regret I did not think of making it yesterday. Everyone who has a view on how we should do our job should communicate that within their own groups and parties. It is important that we understand what our work is about whether we have been in the House for one year or 20.
I am concerned that sufficient time may not have been given for initial speakers on the Firearms (Temporary Provisions) Bill. I hope some latitude will be granted and speakers permitted to speak for 15 instead of ten minutes. Many Members have strong views on this legislation.
I wish to be associated with the remarks made by the previous two speakers. I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for your courtesy, understanding and flexibility, as you have just demonstrated with Senator O'Toole. I thank the Clerk and Assistant Clerk of the Seanad, the staff of the Clerk's office, the reporting staff and all the staff of the House. Our sittings have been extended in terms of days and hours. We must ensure that the staff are adequately resourced to cope with this extra work which is often done under pressure. We appreciate their hard work and good humour. I thank the Leader for his co-operation and helpfulness.
I wonder why item 1 comes before us at this time. Surely, when the proposals for a Standards in Public Office Bill are actually laid before the Seanad we can decide what to do with them? When they are presented it will not be appropriate that this be done without debate and simply referred to the Select Committees on Members' Interests of Dáil and Seanad Éireann. Every Member has an interest in this subject and it is important that we have the opportunity to present our views at the outset. I suggest to the Leader that this matter be dealt with in a more comprehensive fashion.
I compliment the Government on the good Exchequer returns for the first half of the year and on their handling of the ship of state. However, I refer to a letter in today's Irish Times signed on behalf of Threshold, Focus Ireland, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Simon Community of Ireland and the Sonas Housing Association. It refers to the crisis in social housing and points out that 40,000 households in receipt of social welfare allowances are in the lower end of the private rented sector and 30,000 households are on local authority housing lists. There is a serious shortage of adequate housing. On one hand the Exchequer has a large surplus and on the other people are living in inadequate accommodation.
Finally, I attended a pauper's funeral during the week. I had not realised such a thing still existed. The church service and the burial were not held at the normal times, the coffin was different from the normal and the burial took place in a separate part of the cemetary. Someone who had suffered humiliation in life continued to be demeaned in death. Given our current enormous prosperity there should be no such thing as a pauper's funeral. We should ensure that this method of dealing with dead people is abolished; we certainly have enough money to do so.
On behalf of the Progressive Democrats, I extend my thanks to everybody involved in running the Houses. In particular, I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for handling an exhausting session with your usual equanimity and fairness. I also thank the Clerk, the Clerk Assistant and the staff of the Seanad office.
As I have said a few times this year, the burden of work on that office is constantly increasing, not just in terms of servicing the House but also in terms of the additional functions allocated to the Cathaoirleach and the Clerk. One need only consider the Boundary Commission and work associated with tribunals and so forth. That has imposed an extra burden on them and somebody, somewhere will have to examine the resourcing of that office. It is not right to allocate so many extra tasks without providing the resources to service them properly. I also thank the ushers and members of the press who report the proceedings of the House fairly and accurately.
Senator Costello referred to the manner in which the House will deal with item 1. The committees of both Houses will continue to sit when the Houses have risen and it is appropriate that they should consider the proposals. The obvious intention is that they will be discussed fully in both Houses but even if that does not happen in advance of the publication of the Government's proposals, it will happen following the introduction of the required legislation.
My other point relates to the building work that is scheduled to start on the College of Art. This matter has been discussed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges with the Office of Public Works. Obviously, we are anxious to minimise the impact on future sittings of the House. Senators are privileged to sit in one of the finest public rooms in the country and everything possible must be done to ensure that nothing happens to the plaster work or the artefacts in the Seanad during construction.
Recently, a third level student with a sports injury was returning from a university in England and required a wheelchair at Luton Airport. Ryanair charged the student £15 for the use of a wheelchair even though she was in the company of her mother. On her arrival in Dublin Airport she was charged a further £8 for the use of a wheelchair in that airport. Surely this must warrant the title "Scrooge Airline of the Year" for Ryanair. Has this airline, under the terms of its licence, the authority to do this? I ask the Leader to bring this matter to the attention of the Minister for Public Enterprise. I cannot put down a motion on the matter since the House is rising today. Can the Leader ascertain if the airline is in breach of its licence in this regard? The action by Ryanair was totally inappropriate and I am not aware of any airline which would charge anybody for the use of a wheelchair, let alone a third level student returning from hospital with a sports injury. The airline charged the student a total of IR£27. That is most inappropriate and warrants investigation.
As it is the end of session, the Leader will have difficulty reporting back to Members on matters which are raised today. However, the Meteorological Office has confirmed that the month of June was one of the wettest on record with rainfall levels about 300 per cent above average in the midlands and the west. This has had a serious effect on farming incomes although that probably is not immediately apparent.
I appeal to the Leader to speak to the Minister for Agriculture and Food about income supports payable to farmers. Thousands of such supports which were due to be paid in 1997 have not yet been paid while payments for early 1998 have also not been paid. We are now approaching the period when major income support in the form of area aid payments is due, especially to low income farmers such as grassland farmers who have been worst affected by the recent bad weather. I hope the Leader will ensure that these payments are made as quickly as possible.
The previous Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry agreed a charter of rights with the farming organisations under which the Minister undertook to pay income supports and premia by certain dates. That has not been honoured. The current Minister has not yet officially torn up that agreement so, in a sense, he is bound by it. I hope the Leader will convey my plea to the Minister.
A subject which is dear to the hearts of many Senators and is probably the subject of much discussion in the midlands today is the report of the Boundary Commission on the revision of constituency boundaries for next year's local government elections. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government received the report a week ago and I cannot understand why it is taking him so long to publish it. Will the Leader ask the Minister to publish the report immediately rather than allow it to be released in dribs and drabs through leaks? The commission was appointed to report independently to the Minister on the boundary changes, if any. No doubt there will be many changes. It is difficult to understand why the report should be sat on for this length of time. It should be published immediately.
I call on the Leader to use his good offices with the Minister for Agriculture and Food to do something for small farmers who are suffering hardship as a result of the recent inclement weather. Most of my constituents who have small farms on black land are finding it impossible to get in fodder for the winter. There will be a serious fodder crisis next autumn. Will the Leader ask for a fund to be set up to help these people buy this fodder?
I wish to be associated with the good wishes expressed to you, a Chathaoirligh, the Leader of the House and the staff of the Seanad. I thank you for the manner in which business was carried out and for ensuring that the House completed an excellent schedule of work. While I might not go as far as Senator Dardis in describing the schedule as exhausting for Members——
I meant for the Cathaoirleach.
——there was certainly a huge increase in productivity on previous sessions. I commend all involved, particularly the staff and the Cathaoirleach. Those who hold posts of responsibility for ensuring such productivity had a considerably increased workload and we appreciate their work.
Despite having sat for many extra days, Senators will still call on the Order of Business for more issues to be discussed and I am no exception. I hope the Leader, when considering the programme for the autumn session, will put aside time to commemorate the 1798 Rebellion in a dignified manner. That might be done through an interactive debate in the Seanad. Were it not for 1798 and the United Irishmen, we probably would not be in this House. I might have been sitting in a Wexford Senate or history might have taken a different direction.
Some weeks ago the Cathaoirleach graced the reconvention of the Wexford Senate with his presence. That is quite unique and in its own way it is a nice commemoration of those tragic but very interesting and exciting times. The concept of self-determination was once the preserve of the extremes and middle ground Ireland did not talk about it because it was not considered respectable to do so. I remember being chided by a Leader of the Fine Gael Party during the past ten years for using the concept of self-determination.
With regard to public health and the environment, self-determination must be at the top of the agenda for any country. It is the right to determine, protect and organise——
It sounds like a European issue.
No, it is not. This issue has been around a lot longer. Senator O'Toole is keen to get rid of me but I will be glad of any support if the occasion should arise. There will be benefits for all if I get support.
With health and the environment top of our agenda we need an urgent debate on matters involving British Nuclear Fuels and how it impacts on our self-determination as a nation. In the broadest sense of the concept, self-determination is about these important issues as well as its normal interpretation. I called for a debate on this issue as far back as last October and many other Senators have raised this issue as well.
Can the Cathaoirleach over the next few days ask the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Woods, to inform us what is happening in relation to coastal zone management? He promised to come back here by the end of June to present a report on it. It is now July and, to the best of my knowledge, I have not seen it published anywhere. This is a very important matter for representatives from coastal areas. Coastal zone management has been bandied around by several Governments and we need to make progress on it. I would appreciate up to date information on it.
I would like to be associated with comments thanking the Cathaoirleach, the Leader, the Whips and staff for the smooth running of Seanad Éireann during the year and for the amount of legislation that has been dealt with. I pay particular reference to the Leader and the Whip. They caused my blood pressure to hit the roof on many occasions during the year, so much so that I did not think I would last until the end of the year. Having said that, I am delighted we have got through so much legislation and that I am associated with it.
During the year I raised some issues which have not been dealt with yet. I called for a debate on the role of FÁS as regards the transition of young people from school to FÁS or work with FÁS playing a role, particularly apprenticeship courses. The Education Bill will be dealt with in this House next October and, coupled with that, it is time for a debate or statements on FÁS. We cannot deal with the Education Bill without mentioning the co-ordinated effort involved. At the moment FÁS is a law unto itself in relation to a conflict of interest when it comes to the education of young people aged 16 years and over. There is a conflict instead of a complementary role for both Departments. They seem to be working from different ends of the spectrum. Now is the time to ensure this matter will be on our agenda for next November.
Senator Doyle referred to 1798 but I would like to discuss 1998. I ask the Leader to convey our congratulations and continued support to the Taoiseach in his efforts to resolve a very difficult weekend that faces us here, especially in the North and in particular Portadown. I hope the decision of the Parades Commission will be adhered to. Unfortunately, as in the past, the decision will be made that what will cause the least violence throughout the Province of Ulster will be taken into consideration rather than the feelings and efforts of the residents of the Garvaghy Road.
Yesterday I attended the fish exhibition in Killybegs and as I travelled back last night I came upon an Orange parade in a town in South Fermanagh. A parade is intimidating when you come across it. In the middle of that town is an archway and one of the difficulties that arose in Portadown last night was that there was a similar arch being erected. I hope a resolution will be found. There has been a problem in Portadown for the past four years and it is disturbing that, until late last night, the Taoiseach was the only person to come to the assistance of the residents of Garvaghy Road.
Yesterday I expressed my thanks to everyone who has worked so hard this session. I forgot to include in my thanks the Deputy Leader, Senator Dardis, who has been a tower of strength. I thank the Government Chief Whip, Senator Fitzgerald, whose experience, hard work and energy helped this House to run smoothly. I also thank the assistant Whip, Senator Farrell.
Senators Manning, O'Toole, Costello and Dardis referred to item 1. I will facilitate a debate on it at a later date. As Senator Dardis pointed out, it is important these Oireachtas Committees continue to work during the months of July and September. I am grateful for the co-operation of the House in relation to item 1.
Senator Manning queried item 6. I can look at it very early in the next session. Senator O'Toole mentioned that the Seanad had the same number of sitting days as the Dáil in 1998. This is mainly due to the new Dáil committee system and the tight voting position the Government finds itself in. This results in 40 per cent of legislation being initiated in the Seanad. In the past all Stages of some Bills would be dealt with in one day in the Seanad. Now the Second Stage of a Bill is dealt with in one day and the remaining Stages are taken the following week. This arrangement will continue under this Government.
I agree with Senators O'Toole, Dardis and Manning's views on staffing levels and the pressures on the staff which result from these extra sitting days which will continue through the lifetime of this Government. Three and four day sittings mean that the role of a Senator is a full-time position and, for Members who have to attend special committees on Mondays, it is a five day week.
Senator Costello called for an urgent debate on the social housing needs and requirements over the coming years. I will facilitate a debate during the early part of the next session. I agree with him and thank him for his vote of congratulations to the Government on the Exchequer returns for the first six months. Income tax returns are up 10 per cent, VAT 5.7 per cent, excise duty 12.8 per cent, corporation tax 24 per cent and stamp duty 36.6 per cent.
The Fine Gael Party laid the foundations.
That is an excellent record of achievement in the first six months. I congratulate our former partners in Government, Senator Costello's party, and I look forward to even greater returns for the second half of the year. I congratulate everyone who is making this possible through their hard work and contributions to one of the best countries in the world.
I agree with the comments of Senator Connor and Senator Dan Kiely who called for the early payment of income support to farmers for the 1997 and 1998 periods. I will pass on their remarks to the Minister after the Order of Business.
We are all eagerly awaiting the local constituency boundaries report. I understand it will be published within the next 14 days.
Fourteen more days.
I am sure it will be sad reading for many people in rural Ireland where the population has declined. The urban renewal scheme has been a magnificent success in larger towns and cities. I look forward to the day when the scheme is extended to rural areas. I am pleased the Minister included Roscommom, Cavan, Sligo, Longford and parts of Leitrim in the budget. They are hard pressed areas as the Cathaoirleach, Senator Connor and I are aware from our daily work in our constituencies. I am sure Senator Connor welcomes the inclusion of Roscommon and looks forward to bringing the same benefits to the area the urban renewal scheme brought to larger towns over the last 15 years. Senator Connor is consistent; he will agree with my sentiments.
Indeed.
Senator Doyle raised the commemoration of 1798. I have discussed this matter with the Senators from Wexford and I have agreed to make the time available; it is a pleasure to do so.
Senator Doyle has a keen interest in environmental matters and the problem of Sellafield. This is a major issue for all Members and I agree there should be another debate on it. My colleague in Europe, Mr. Jim Fitzsimons, MEP, has repeatedly raised this matter over the last 15 years. I will arrange a debate at the earliest opportunity after the summer recess.
Senator Doyle also mentioned the report on coastal zone management promised by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources and said it should be published as soon as possible. I have been Leader of the House for a year and I have found the Minister most helpful and co-operative in terms of coming to the House and bringing Members up to date on his ideas and plans for future legislation. I will ask him to come to the House for a debate which will include a question and answer session with which Senator Doyle is familiar.
Senator Ormonde called for an urgent debate on FÁS. I promised such a debate but an enormous amount of business will be taken today and it will be impossible to arrange it, unless the House wishes to sit until 12 midnight to discuss this important matter.
No problem.
I have no difficulty with that. However, to be fair to Senator Ormonde and the many other Senators who indicated their desire for such a debate, I will leave it until the next session when I will arrange a three or four hour discussion on it.
Senator Bonner raised the serious situation in which people in the North of Ireland find themselves this weekend. The Senator has the full and wholehearted support of all Members for the sentiments he expressed. We all pray and hope that this weekend will pass peacefully, that common sense will prevail and that people will take the long-term view and act responsibly.
Senator Coghlan and Senator Dan Kiely twice this week raised the problems of the Killarney to Tralee rail service. The good news, which I am sure all Members will welcome, is that the Minister announced two days ago that £14 million for the Mullingar-Carrick-on-Shannon line, £2 million for the Cherryvale-Kilkenny line and £10 million for the Mallow-Killarney line will be made available.
Bravo.
It is Luas money.
As it has been an exhausting session I urge all Members to take a well earned rest and return refreshed because they will be working as hard if not harder in the next session.
Order of Business agreed to.