It is proposed to take item No. 6.
Order of Business.
(Limerick West): I wish to ask the Chair for guidance regarding misleading information which the Minister for Agriculture gave in the House yesterday in relation to my Private Notice Question regarding the super-levy.
Allegations which a Deputy wishes to make against a Minister cannot be made in this way without notice. The Deputy will have to consider the matter if this is what he wants to do and find a more orderly way to raise it.
(Limerick West): I am asking for the Chair's guidance. The Minister gave misleading information. The Minister was aware of the decision of the Commission yesterday and refused to give the information to the House.
Order, please. There is no point in arguing about it. I am telling the Deputy it is not in order. He cannot raise it in this way. If he wants to come to my office and discuss it with me he is welcome to do so. He cannot, without giving me notice, raise it in the House and ask me to deal with it. That is disorderly.
(Limerick West): Is the Ceann Comhairle aware that it has cost us £10 billion and that many farmers are facing ruin because of the incompetence of the Minister for Agriculture?
I am asking Deputy Noonan to resume his seat.
(Limerick West): The Minister should consider this position with regard to the super-levy negotiations.
Deputy Noonan, please resume your seat.
Fianna Fáil have a Standing Order of their own now, and that is to make a dog's breakfast of the business every day.
Deputy Kelly will keep out of this and leave the matter to the Chair.
Deputy Kelly may get the Attorney Generalship yet.
(Interruptions.)
(Limerick West): May I have permission to raise this matter on the Adjournment?
I will consider the Deputy's request and communicate with him.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the problems experienced in the office of the Revenue Commissioners and in particular to ask about the backlog of taxes which have not been collected.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the failure of the Minister for Education to provide adequate post-primary facilities for Mallow town.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
In view of the reported closure of the Verolme Cork Dockyard would the Minister indicate——
Does the Deputy wish to raise this matter on the Adjournment?
No. I want to ask it now.
The Deputy cannot do that.
I am asking now what action the Government propose to take with regard to the Cork dockyard as they have a 40 per cent stake——
I am asking for the Deputy's co-operation.
The Chair has it.
Then sit down, please.
I want the Government to co-operate in relation to the dockyard.
I wonder if the Ceann Comhairle observed that the Minister for Agriculture on television yesterday gave considerable information to the public about the milk affair, which my colleague, Deputy Noonan, had raised, about where blame lay and the statistics. He gave a considerable amount of in-depth information about the whole debacle which he did not give in this House yesterday. I ask the Chair if he observed that.
I did not.
Then I draw the Chair's attention to the fact that this occurred.
Perhaps the Deputy will allow me to guide him. If the Deputy wants to raise a matter like this with me he should come to my office. I cannot deal with extraneous matters on an impromptu basis without notice.
I accept that, but I think the Ceann Comhairle would be the last person to wish his office to be turned into a star chamber.
More a fatherly discussion with the Deputy.
This House is the place where we might tentatively explore some of these matters.
If the Deputy feels that, we would have to change Standing Orders.
Is there any method at the Chair's disposal or at the Opposition's disposal whereby we could ensure that when Ministers address this House on a very important, topical, urgent matter that they disclose full information in this House and not keep it up their sleeve for their television appearances later in the day?
I have no comment to make on the Deputy's observations.
Does the Ceann Comhairle not recognise that the House falls into disrepute when a Minister shows such disrespect for the House?
Deputy Haughey is well able to deal with this matter himself and I am sure he does not want any assistance from Deputy Woods.
He is well able to look after himself.
I am asking the Ceann Comhairle to deal with the matter.
I dealt with the Deputy's Leader on the topic and I do not propose to elaborate on it further.
Will the Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism indicate when he intends to introduce legislation on the implementation of the fourth directive of the EEC on company law?
The legislation in question is before the Government in the form of draft heads at present. I cannot give a precise indication as to when this legislation will be introduced in that drafting the precise terms of the legislation will require some time. However, I assure the House that this legislation is receiving the utmost priority within the Government's legislative programme and I do not expect there will be any delay in processing the legislation through the various stages up to its introduction into the House.
Considering that this is a matter of some technical merit, can the Minister indicate when we may expect the legislation to be before the House?
As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate from his experience in Government, the problem of drafting legislation rests with the legal officer of the Government, the Attorney General. It is not within my power to say how long the drafting of any piece of legislation might take. Having regard to the complexities of the legislation in question it would be impossible for anyone to say precisely how long the drafting would involve but I have given the House an assurance — and this assurance applies to the Attorney General as well as to all other Members — that this legislation will receive the utmost priority both in terms of drafting and of being brought forward. It will be introduced at the earlierst date possible.
Is it intended to introduce legislation in this section to deal with the limited liability aspect of company law?
It would be my aim to introduce before the end of this session legislation dealing with another aspect of company law, apart from the fourth directive, namely, a general revision of the privileges attaching to limited liability.
In this session?
That is my aim but while the legislation is fairly well drafted there remains some technical work to be done on it.