It is proposed to take Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 19.
Order of Business.
On the Order of Business, Sir, I wish to give notice that, with your permission, I propose to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Questions No. 114 and 115 of the 4th June.
It was agreed, Sir, that the Housing Bill would be taken on Thursday at 10.30 a.m.
Certain amendments have been tabled, Sir, to the Housing Bill by Deputy Tully and by Deputy FitzGerald. These are recent amendments and we would like until Thursday to have them studied, if the House is agreeable. The amendments can be taken at 10.30 a.m. on Thursday.
I wish, Sir, on the Order of Business, to bring to your attention that last Friday I tabled a Special Notice Question to the Taoiseach asking him if he had any observations to make on the statement made by the President of the High Court and I wish to protest strongly——
The Deputy may not make a speech on a question that has been ruled out of order. Will the Deputy please resume his seat? I examined the questions carefully and ruled them out of order because the Taoiseach had no official responsibility. For the information of the House I might say that the Constitution provides that all judges are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions.
A Cheann Comhairle——
I have not finished. Will the Deputy control himself? Under the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act of 1961 it is the function of the President of the High Court to arrange the distribution and the allocation of the business of the High Court, including the Central Criminal Court which is the High Court exercising criminal jurisdiction. The statement made by the President of the High Court relates to his own functions and the Taoiseach therefore has no official responsibility or control in the matter.
The Chair forgot to mention that there is another item in the Constitution which provides that the Houses of the Oireachtas may remove these gentlemen.
That is entirely a matter for the House.
May I place on record, Sir, that I consider the statement of the President of the High Court quite extraordinary——
We cannot discuss the statement made by the President of the High Court. The Deputy should control himself.
——ambiguous and——
We cannot discuss statements made by the Judiciary.
It is about time we expressed our point of view.
In relation to the Order of Business, Sir, what will be the order of the speakers? It was represented last night on the "Seven Days" programme that Fianna Fáil backbenchers do not participate in debates——
They are not able to.
We are allowed onethird of the time and I want to know if further time will be made available now so that we can speak. We are debarred from speaking and quite recently——
We cannot have a debate on this. The Deputy is entitled to put the question and in reply I would tell him that the Chair will carry on the debate in the usual manner.
You can do as usual "spoke" when you are allowed.
Is there any procedure whereby the order can be changed?
That is a matter for the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party.
(Interruptions.)