The Order of Business is No. 1, a referral motion whereby the subject matter of No. 15 on today's Order Paper, which concerns the amending and extending of the Diseases of Animals Acts 1966 to 2001, and the enhancement of the Minister's ability to deal with all animal disease situations and with criminal activity in regard to animal health, is being referred without debate to the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food for consideration; No. 2, the Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 — Report and Final Stages, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business until 12 p.m.; and No. 3, the Control of Exports Bill 2007 — Order for Second Stage and Second Stage, to be taken at 12 p.m. until 2 p.m., with the contributions of spokespersons not to exceed 12 minutes, those of other Senators not to exceed eight minutes each, and the Minister to be called on to reply not later than ten minutes before the conclusion of Second Stage.
Order of Business.
The clear impression was given last night that all Stages of the emergency legislation before the House had to be passed by 12 midnight. It subsequently transpired that was not the case and that more time could have been given because the President only had to sign the legislation before 9 a.m. this morning, not 12 midnight. I wish to register my protest and that of my colleagues at the way the Government dealt with this issue. A total of nine minutes was given to Members of Seanad Éireann to debate that emergency legislation, but we could have had more time. It is very important that in the course of questions and answers during the limited time, Senator Bradford elicited crucial information from the Minister.
The Senator is entitled to make his protest but that was yesterday's business.
That was then, this is now. However, the current situation has a major impact on the health insurance market. The effect of last night's legislation will be the end of competition in the health care market.
The Senator cannot say that.
We face a serious situation——
I point out that the Bill has been passed. We cannot discuss yesterday's business.
It is a current matter. I do not seek a debate with the Cathaoirleach but if he wants one, I will have one.
There will be no debate. The Chair will rule and we must remain on the Order of Business.
The Leader of the House usually does not follow this behaviour. She is opposed to the guillotine and has never employed it. She was forced by the Government to introduce la guillotine in the House. We did not have time to do our job. We were told that the Bill had to be passed by midnight. That was false information and someone must take responsibility.
Hear, hear.
Will the Government address that issue? It was for this reason that my colleagues and I opposed the amendment to the Order of Business last night — as a protest at how this House is treated.
What about the Labour Party?
This Bill has a major impact on the current situation and the future for workers in County Cork and the 500,000 subscribers to BUPA Ireland.
In my 20 years as a Senator the Leader's office has never worked so efficiently as it does now. Anything I say is no criticism of the Leader. We normally receive notification of changes to the Order of Business but did not receive any such notification yesterday. An Independent Member was present when the announcement was made in the House but understood that an e-mail would be sent to inform us of the change. The Leader was under the same pressure as everyone else. I checked my e-mail at 8.30 p.m. and there was no notification. Consequently, some Independent Members were not present. I would have supported the Bill but the issue concerns Independent Members making a contribution, about which we are diligent. I regret that we did not have formal notification of the change to the Order of Business. It was an embarrassment to Independent Members.
Senators Ulick Burke and Quinn raised the report on teacher education during the week. We need a debate on this. It was a cheap, nasty trick by the Minister to deflect attention from an issue that was causing pressure. This is a vulnerable group of young teachers who are left without a voice to speak for them. I reassure the House that it may have trust and confidence in those young students because this was not a random selection, nor was the survey carried out using normal survey rules. It was a group of 140 selected by college authorities to fulfil a remit from the Department of Education and Science. No blame attaches to them and we cannot make a judgment based on this. We need a debate so that people understand that after graduation students spend a year under the control of the inspectorate in order to develop. The Leader and I have had many rows wearing different hats but we fought face to face without placing blame on vulnerable people who had no voice.
I received two photographs yesterday of road signposts in County Galway. These show the bilingual names of places such as Spiddal -An Spidéal and Carraroe-An Cheathrú Rua in County Galway. The Minister is so quick and eager to put the boot into people in Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis but has a different set of rules in his own constituency. It is appalling. The position of people in Dingle has been articulated in a plebiscite and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government supports them. The Government should deal with this in fair way. It is quite invidious discrimination against Dingle. It is wrong and should be corrected.
Níl mé chun dul síos an bealach arís.
Why not?
My understanding is that there is a well established procedure where a Member inadvertently misleads the House. The person explains the mistake and the House accepts it. The Bill was not passed until the House voted for it at 12.05 a.m. because there was no certainty until that point. Either the legislation passed last night was invalid because it was passed after midnight or the Leader inadvertently misled the House. Perhaps someone misled the Leader and she was put in an invidious position.
Exactly.
It is up to the Leader to clarify that is the rule in this House. I do not suggest she did so deliberately but if I mislead the House inadvertently, it is my duty, out of respect to the House, to explain the mistake and apologise. We can then move on and recognise that people make mistakes. We need to know which of the two scenarios is correct. This is a serious matter and if the Leader does not explain it, I will make a formal complaint to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges about the House being misled, which is my prerogative and my intention.
If we return to normal business, we should consider the state of the people of Palestine. They are shuffled into compromise after compromise but then told that it is not enough. The Palestinian people have suffered too much and have been punished for making a democratic choice and for not accepting a settlement imposed on them. They were punished again this week after coming to a compromise in which Hamas de facto recognised Israel. Hamas is prepared to call a ceasefire and grant de facto recognition to Israel, yet the Palestinian people are told this is not enough. In the history of humanity there has not been a more cruel decision by the world community than the one imposed on the Palestinian people. I invite the Leader to arrange a debate on it after she clarifies the issue of the House being misled last night.
I have suggested a debate on the Middle East. I raised this in light of the recent visit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Middle East. It would be useful for the House to be updated on the situation. Senator Ryan and I agree on the basics but as a result of the Saudi Arabian initiative last week, which brought Fatah and Hamas together for the purpose of forming a unity government, the Quartet met yesterday. The Quartet represents what I believe to be world opinion and includes representation from the United Nations, Russia, the United States and all those among whom there would be a divergence of opinion on the way forward in the Middle East. It is slightly disingenuous to suggest that world opinion is out of step with Hamas and its view regarding its forming a unity government. There is, however, a lack of clarity regarding the way forward in the Middle East.
I agree with Senator Ryan that serious, genuine and sincere attempts are being made by all sides in Palestine to stop the bloodshed. Ultimately, it is the Palestinian people who are suffering as a result of the political vacuum that has been created. It would, therefore, be important and timely for the Leader to request that the Minister for Foreign Affairs come to the House in order that he might outline the Government's position on this matter and that Members on all sides might have an opportunity to comment.
I wish to refer to a recent request I made regarding a debate on immigration. A report, which emanated from the Commission on Immigration and Cohesion, was published yesterday by the UK authorities. It points out that the most fundamental requirement relating to people who enter the UK and who wish to live there is that they should learn the language. We should consider the report in question and take on board what it has to say. Events in Britain provide a mirror image of what is happening here and the report focuses on the large-scale immigration that took place since the UK, Ireland and Sweden opened their borders to workers following the accession of new member states in 2004. This is a serious issue for Irish society and we should focus on integration and policies attaching thereto. It is time to engage in regular debates on this issue——
Hear, hear.
——in order that we can all remain informed regarding the way forward.