Before the Dáil goes into Committee, may I raise a question at this stage with regard to the Orders of the Day, which have been put into our hands. I think that now is the right time to raise a matter that I have in mind with regard to item 2 on the Orders of the Day. On last Saturday afternoon in common with other members I received these Orders of the Day. No. 2 on these Orders is entitled "The Public Safety (Emergency Powers) Bill, 1923— Committee." The actual amendments have only been received by me just now. I understand the difficulties that there are in this matter, but it does seem to me not in the public interest, and not proper to efficiency, that we should be asked to consider these amendments within a matter of ten minutes or half an hour of receiving them.
You will recall that when this question of amendments was under discussion at the Dáil before, it was desired that amendments should be in our hands well in advance of the time when they were to be considered. It was agreed that amendments should be handed in to you, at a certain time before consideration by the Dáil, in order that Deputies should have them in their hands for consideration. Obviously, the slightest glance at these amendments shows that they require a very great deal of careful consideration, to reveal exactly their bearing on the Bill of which they purport to be improvements and amendments. I suggest that it is not right that we should be asked to consider amendments to a Bill of such importance without consent, until they have at least been in our hands one or two days in advance of their being heard and considered in this Dáil. I urge, seeing that these amendments have only just come into our hands within the last ten minutes, in my own case at least, that the Bill to which they are amendments should not be considered to-day, but that it should be postponed in order that we should have time to give that efficient attention to these amendments that obviously they require.
We are dealing with legislation here in very great haste. It might even be said that we have legislation churned through this Dáil. Let us at least give no further or greater colour to that allegation than is necessary, and also let us see that Bills of this major importance should have the fullest consideration, and that all amendments should be fully considered. Because if we take them up in a half an hour from now they cannot receive that previous attention that the amendments should receive.
