Vol. 282 No. 3
Cavan): I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £200,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1975, for contributions to International Organisations and for Official Development Assistance, including a grant-in-aid.
In this connection I should like to mention to the Parliamentary Secretary that in the event of there being such a debate in the future it would serve the interest of the House if a date could be set aside, two weeks in advance, for it. I know it is difficult with the pressure of business but if a date was set aside Members could contribute to the debate. Many of the Members are scarcely aware that the debate is taking place today. Time should be set aside for Members to express, more effectively than has been done this morning, the concern the House has. I would hate the impression to go abroad, as a result of the fact that there were only three contributions to this motion, that Dáil Éireann is not concerned. That is not true and I would be obliged if something should be done to upset that possibility.
I undertake, for as long as I am in this job, to ensure, in so far as I can, that the date of a debate like this will be known two or three weeks in advance. The Deputy will appreciate that the Dáil is under fierce pressure. The Dáil sat more hours and did more work of sorts this year than it has since the State was founded in 1922. The pressure is ferocious but in case anybody is under the impression that this debate was decided on only yesterday I should like to make it clear that the Opposition were told on Thursday week that this debate would be on today.
I acknowledge that.
The Opposition have been on notice for the last eight days that this debate would take place this morning. It is a Friday and we have had a hard sweaty week. Most Deputies have gone home but when the pressure on the Dáil eases and if we have another such debate, and do not have to listen to the kind of thing we have had to listen to for the past week on wealth tax, I will put this debate down for a Wednesday, the peak talking period.
The Government Deputies should not have gone home.
