It is proposed to take the business on the Order Paper in the following order: Items 6 to 10 inclusive, item 9 (Vote 50 will be taken with Votes under No. 8). Items 3 and 4 will be taken in their appropriate places. When the Votes under No. 8 are completed, not more than two hours will be allotted to item 5.
Order of Business.
Mr. Brennan
May I ask the Minister if he is really serious in going on with item 10—Local Government Bill, 1940 —Second Stage? I wonder if any member of the House has had time to study that Bill? The present does not seem to be a suitable time in which to introduce a Bill of that nature. The Bill is one which is designed for normal times, and it is in normal times, I suggest, that it could be properly considered. I do not believe that, even if the Government had this Bill in their hands to-morrow, they would operate it. They would not have the desire or the opportunity to operate it. I think the Minister would be well advised to leave over a Bill of this nature for consideration to some future time when Deputies will be in a position to devote their full attention to it, and perhaps make it a better Bill than it is.
I understand that, to a considerable extent, this Bill is bound up with the implementation of the Managerial Bill and the Local Elections Bill.
Mr. Brennan
I agree.
I am sure that the Minister for Local Government has no desire to rush it. I know it has been only a short time circulated. As the Deputy knows, it is only the Second Reading that it is proposed to take to-day.
Mr. Brennan
But it is a very comprehensive Bill.
I know it is. If the House would like to have it postponed until next Wednesday, that can be considered.
Mr. Brennan
I do not think any member of the House has read it.
Would the House be agreeable, after hearing the Minister make his Second Reading speech on the Bill, to adjourn further discussion on it?
Yes.
May I put this consideration to the Minister: that the passage of this Bill is clearly a prelude to the holding of the local elections, and I think the Government will appreciate that, in present circumstances, it is highly undesirable.
That is a matter we can discuss.
Bearing in mind that the local elections may, in the national interest, have to be postponed, is there any need to press this Bill through at this stage? Would it not be better, as Deputy Brennan has suggested, to leave it over and have it considered in calmer circumstances?
As the law stands, the local elections will have to be held before the 30th September. No decision has yet been reached to amend the law and, therefore, if these elections are to be held and the Managerial Bill put into operation, it is essential that this Bill should be passed, and that all the necessary arrangements should be made before that date. There is no desire to rush it at all.
The Minister will agree that a one-sentence Bill would enable the Government to postpone the holding of the elections until such date as we had agreed on. A Bill of that kind would get over the difficulty he speaks of.
That is so. It might be wise to have some consultation with all sides of the House as to whether the local elections should be held.
Mr. Brennan
I agree.
Are we to understand that the Minister will make his Second Reading speech on the Bill to-day, and that further discussion on it can be postponed?
That is the proposal.
Can we understand that, before the Second Reading debate on the Bill is resumed, this question of the local elections will be fully considered and decided on?
It can be discussed anyhow.
Mr. Byrne
If the Minister proposes to have private discussions on this with all sides of the House, I hope he will give consideration to the fact that there are seven of us on these benches who are never consulted about anything. We have been disappointed on many occasions when we wanted to speak.
We will consult serious Parties in the House.
Mr. Byrne
I want to ask Deputy Cole, Deputy Myles, Deputy Cogan— my other six colleagues—whether the Minister is justified in saying, or thinking, that they are not serious representatives in this House.
I did not say that.
Mr. Byrne
That was the insinuation.
I said serious Parties.
Mr. Byrne
I hope that some consideration will be given to the seven of us.