I should like to raise a question of procedure in reference to a Bill which came down from the Seanad last week.
Bills from Seanad—Question of Procedure.
The Deputy did not give me any notice of this.
I did not because I had only time to read the report this morning and I had not an opportunity of seeing you, sir. The point is this: are Bills coming down from the Seanad to this House in the nature of Private Members' Bills if they are not actual Government measures? If so, should they not take their place in the queue, so to speak, of Private Members' Bills in Private Members' time rather than in Government time? The point has reference to the Wild Birds Protection Bill.
The Deputy wishes to know what is the position of Bills initiated in and passed by the Seanad and sent to Dáil Eireann for consideration. They remain on the Order Paper until a motion is made for Second Reading. If the motion is made for Second Reading by a Minister and they are thus adopted as Government business, they may be taken in Government time. If the motion is made by a private Deputy, they will be taken in Private Members' time. In the particular instance referred to, the Minister for Justice moved the Second Reading in Government time.
He explicitly, in reply to me, said that it was not a Government measure. Then what was it?
Of course, if the Deputy and the Minister do not agree as to what it was, it is not for the Ceann Comhairle to say what it was. If the Minister chose to move the Second Reading in Government time, he was within his rights.
Although not a Government measure? Seeing that he moved it rather as a Private Member, should it not come on in Private Members' time?
Will the Deputy explain what the difficulty is?
The difficulty is that when a private member of this House in the position of a Minister is moving a Bill which is not a Government Bill, the Bill should come on in Private Members' time and not in Government time. If he says that it is a Government measure, that will answer me.
The position is that the President could, if he so wished, allow Deputy Little to move a Bill in Government time without the Bill becoming a Government measure.