It is proposed to take Nos. 18 and 19, Vote 43 (resumed). The Dáil will meet at 11.30 a.m. tomorrow.
Order of Business.
I wish to raise the subject matters of Questions Nos. 79 and 80 on last Thursday's Order Paper.
I shall communicate with Deputy Davern.
On the Order of Business, could I ask the Taoiseach to explain his reply to Deputy David Andrews on the Order of Business when he asked was it the Government's intention to make a statement on the events in Dublin, Mullingar and Ballina over the weekend, and the Taoiseach said categorically it was not; and within hours——
Is the Deputy asking a question?
Could I ask the Taoiseach to explain why within hours the Minister for Justice gave a Press conference in the House on those very events? Would the Taoiseach explain the lack of communication between himself and his Minister and his misinformation to the House?
It does not arise on the Order of Business.
I am asking the Taoiseach to explain——
The Chair has no function in this matter and will not permit the business of the House to be disrupted in this fashion.
We are entitled to an explanation from the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach misinformed the House yesterday.
Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill, 1974.
There are other matters to be raised on the Order of Business.
If there are I should like to hear them, but I cannot allow unruly interruptions.
I would like to ask the Taoiseach would he allow time for public debate in the event of the present negotiations in the bus strike breaking down so that the problems of the Dublin workers, the housewives, the sick, persons on social welfare benefits, persons in need of medical attention, people in industry, the shopkeepers, the bus workers in CIE, can be fully discussed in the House, and also the question of the provision of alternative transport so as to ensure that the life of the city does not come to a halt?
That written query does not call for a reply at this stage.
In the event of the negotiations breaking down——
We cannot have an argument.
The Deputy is hoping it will be so.
I am not hoping.
I would like to ask the Taoiseach, in view of the inordinate delay which has occurred in the circulation of the Finance Bill, could he indicate to us when we may now expect it?
I shall make inquiries about it and let the Deputy know.
I wish to protest most strongly about the Taoiseach's reply and his misinformation to the House.
This is not an occasion on which the Deputy may protest. The Deputy is being disorderly.
I asked——
The Deputy may not behave in this fashion on the Order of Business and he knows that.
I would have thought the Chair would be concerned——
No. 18.
I would like to put one question to the Taoiseach.
I have allowed a number of questions to the Taoiseach on this occasion.
Could I ask the Taoiseach, in respect of one category of citizens who are affected by this strike, schoolchildren who are at present sitting for intermediate and leaving certificate examinations, to provide buses——
This is not in order at this juncture.
——to take them to their destinations?
Surely a reasonable question might have a reasonable answer, or at least an answer. There is nothing unreasonable about that request.
Any question at this juncture must relate to the Order of Business. The Deputy is raising extraneous matter altogether without giving the House the courtesy of prior notice.