Vol. 398 No. 4
It is proposed to take Nos. 12, 4, 13, 7, 8, 9 and 10. It is also proposed, subject to the agreement of the House, that: (1) Business shall be interrupted at 10.30 p.m.; (2) No. 13 and Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10 shall be taken together for the purposes of debate.
Private Members' Business shall be No. 30.
Is it agreed to take Nos. 12, 4, 13, 7, 8, 9 and 10? Agreed. Is it agreed that business shall be interrupted at 10.30 p.m.? Agreed. Is it agreed that No. 13 and Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10 be taken together for the purposes of debate? Agreed.
Will the Taoiseach now agree to a proposal I made some four weeks ago that the parties in this House should get together now to examine what changes are required in our extradition law in order to remedy the very clear deficiencies?
Deputy Dukes will appreciate that the Order of Business is not the appropriate time to raise this matter.
The Order of Business seems to me to be peculiarly the appropriate time to take steps of this kind in the House, particularly in view of the fact that in the intervening four weeks two members of the Government have put their names to a document which clearly sets out their view that changes are required. Therefore, it seems clear that the preponderant view of this House is that terrorists should be extradited and that our current law is inadequate to deal with it. I again ask the Taoiseach whether he is now prepared to participate in a common endeavour of this House to remedy those deficiencies.
Deputy Dukes is quite familiar with what is peculiar — and what is not — in respect of Standing Orders. He knows that on the Order of Business it is appropriate to refer to promised legislation. The number of times that has been said must be boring for the audience but that is the position until it is changed. Unfortunately, we do not cater for matters to which the Deputy has referred.
I am not talking about promised legislation, I am speaking about legislation which is required. The only peculiar thing is that in view of the House's view the Taoiseach has no proposals to put forward in this area. I urge him to think again about it.
Such urgings can be made but need not be responded to. It is not appropriate to have a response on the Order of Business.
Will the Shannon Estuarial Authority Bill — which has almost seen the light of day on a number of occasions in this House — be introduced this session?
I do not think so.
Is the Taoiseach superstitious?
With your permission, I should like to raise on the Adjournment the rapidly deteriorating condition of the houses in Towerhill Road-Clifden Drive, where a fire occurred yesterday evening and the delay of the Minister for the Environment in proceeding with the refurbishment scheme which is urgently required in that area.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with the Deputy.
I seek to raise the same matter referred to by Deputy Mac Giolla. I am sure the House would wish to sympathise with the Curry family who suffered a double bereavement this morning. I also wish to raise an analagous matter on the Adjournment, to ask the Minister for the Environment to give approval for the refurbishment of the houses in Clifden Drive.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with the Deputy.
With your permission, I propose to raise on the Adjournment the continuous serious position arising from the failure of the Southern Health Board to restore a dental service for primary school children in the Killarney urban area.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to record my disappointment that my Private Notice Question on the virtual collapse of the sheep industry this week was not taken. It is very difficult to understand the criteria under which——
Deputy Connaughton, will you please resume your seat?
A wolf in sheep's clothing.
Deputy Connaughton is long enough here to know that this is not an appropriate time for the expression of his disappointment. I call Deputy Rabbitte.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food is hiding behind the Chair on this important issue.
I called Deputy Rabbitte, I will not call him again.
The Dáil must be relevant and this is the kind of thing we should be allowed to discuss.
Deputy Connaughton, if you do not resume your seat I will ask you to leave. If you interrupt again I will do so immediately.
Because of the significance on this matter I will leave on the basis that I am most unhappy with the state of agriculture.
Deputy Connaughton, please leave the Chamber.
Deputy Connaughton withdrew from the Chamber.
Will there be no opportunity to consider this matter?
Resume your seat or I will ask you to leave too. I am calling Deputy Rabbitte.
We should have an opportunity to debate this matter.
What the Deputy thinks is a matter for himself. Resume your seat. In the past the Chair has reminded you of — as far as you are concerned — the unfortunate orders that govern debate in the House. You must acquaint yourself with the order or suffer the resultant judgment.
I want to acquaint you with what is happening in the sheep industry.
Deputy McCormack, resume your seat.
I want to acquaint you——
If you do not resume your seat I will ask you to leave the House.
I want to raise this matter.
Deputy McCormack, please leave the House.
It is a shocking way to treat the farmers.
Deputy McCormack withdrew from the Chamber.
This is beginning to look like a Workers' Party Ard-Fheis.
What role does the Taoiseach see for the Leas-Cheann Comhairle?
The Chair wishes to remind the House that Standing Orders apply to all.
I should like to acknowledge the Taoiseach's expertise in dealing with such little problems.
You do not have to.
Last week I raised the Taoiseach's intervention, at the behest of the Chairman of Bord Telecom, to dispose of the shares — and to overrule the Minister for Communications — of Cablelink——
Deputy Rabbitte, this is not in order.
I am going to ask you about that——
You were taking a long time about it.
Deputy McCartan rose.
Deputy McCartan should look after his own business. Deputy Rabbitte does not enhance his chances by being so unorthodox in the manner in which he asks questions.
I was merely looking for your guidance on a matter of such public importance.
The Ceann Comhairle is always ready to guide any Member of the House.
I was seeking your advice as to how this matter might be raised in the House. I am stating that, on the basis of information available to me, the Taoiseach intervened——
Deputy Rabbitte, there are no special awards for ingenuity in circumventing the Chair. You are not in order. You have been, are and will be out of order if you persist in raising that matter now.
I am merely seeking to know how the matter can be raised in the House.
Call to the Ceann Comhairle who is always ready to give you the best advice.
I wish to draw your attention to the fact that the Leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Dukes, raised this matter properly by way of questions to the Taoiseach today and the office of the Ceann Comhairle — just as it did with me last week — ruled it out of order.
The Ceann Comhairle does what is required of him.
I want to now how it can be raised in this House.
Deputy Rabbitte, you will visit the Ceann Comhairle who will guide you——
——as to how you can put down a question which will be in order in the matter to which you referred, but you cannot raise it here.
I will be glad to do that but it would be helpful if the Taoiseach could indicate whether his involvement in the matter was with the view to preparing the combined Telecom/Cablelink companies for privatisation.
As I have said, the matter is not in order now.
I think the Taoiseach was indicating——
I am calling Deputy Quinn.
I seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment, if you consider it to be in order — the failure of the Minister for Finance, 12 months after he first promised to do so, to re-establish the advisory groups and working parties for the seven sub-regions which were established in the context of Ireland's application to Brussels for Structural Funds and the fact that the Department of Finance have, to date, still not done so.
Deputy Quinn knows that he made a brave attempt to put what is not in order in order. This is not in order now on the Order of Business.
I seek to raise it on the Adjournment.
Ní raibh tú ag éisteacht.
Mura raibh mé gabh mo leithscéal. The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with Deputy Quinn on that matter.
May I ask the Taoiseach to indicate when the Dáil committee on crime will be appointed? We have been promised this committee since last November but when I have inquired about it over the past number of weeks I was told it would be established "presently" or "within the week". Nothing has happened and I am anxious to know when the committee will be appointed so that they can get on with their work.
Ní bhaineann sé sin leis an Order of Business.
This matter has been raised previously and was dealt with. We were given answers on the Order of Business as to what is happening. It is pertinent, I respectfully submit, to the ordering of the business for this House. Surely the establishment of a committee, as promised, is relevant to the Order of Business.
I have already told Deputies that it is on the way.
It is on the way but when? What are the difficulties involved? This committee was promised last November and we have given our agreement at the Whips meetings to participate. What is the problem?
We are waiting for Godot.
They are waiting for Seán Doherty to chair it.
With regard to the statement made by the Tánaiste to the House last Thursday that he had been misinformed in regard to the information he had given to the House on 3 March, will the Tánaiste outline who misinformed him——
Deputy Enright, you are not entitled to pursue that matter on the Order of Business. Deputy Enright knows quite well that it is inappropriate to do so now.
The Tánaiste was given an opportunity to make a statement to the House and it is most inappropriate——
You are out of order, Deputy Enright.
He should not be hiding behind——
Please, Deputy Enright. I am calling Deputy Eamon Gilmore.
I seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment a report that Carysfort College is to be resold this week and that the Minister for Education has so far failed to respond to an offer which would enable the State to purchase the college.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with the Deputy.
I should like to ask——
I have just called a member of your party, Deputy Sherlock.
That is not the order in which Members are called if they rise, and I have been rising from the very outset. I wonder if you need optical treatment.
Deputy Sherlock——
I protest at your failure to call me, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I rose before other Members——
Sometimes we leave the good wine until last. Deputy Ferris.
I thank you for calling me. I seek your permission to raise on the adjournment the Tipperary rural and business development institute, the proposals for which are with the Minister for Education. There is widespread concern in both north and south Tipperary about this issue. Two Ministers form north Tipperary are involved in the project and we are anxious to know the Government's position on this matter.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with the Deputy.
(Limerick East): I should like to raise on the Adjournment the inadequate accommodation for third level students in co-ed colleges in Limerick.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with Deputy Noonan. Anois, Deputy Joe Sherlock.
Go raibh maith agat. I wish to ask the Minister for Health or the Minister of State at the Department of Health, who I think is present in the Chamber, about the legislation which was promised to the House in 1989 in regard to the drugs refund scheme. I understand that negotiations with the Pharmaceutical Society have now broken down. Will the Minister confirm that that is the case and can he say what steps he proposes to take to implement a drugs refund scheme or provide for those people who should qualify——
I think Deputy Sherlock is referring to proposed regulations which were announced. I do not think it was indicated——
He is talking about a scheme which was proposed to help sick people which was promised last year but which has not been put into effect.
I think it would be appropriate for the Deputy to raise that matter on the Adjournment——
The legislation was promised 12 months ago. I want to ask the Minister if the negotiations with the pharmaceutical society have broken down. I have been reliably advised that the pharmaceutical society have withdrawn from the negotiations which means that the prospect of getting this scheme——
Is the Deputy seeking to raise the matter on the Adjournment?
I am asking when it is proposed to bring in legislation——
It would not be appropriate to reply to the Deputy's question now. I am calling Deputy Creed.
I seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment the serious situation facing the Southern Health Board due to the inefficient operation of Cork Regional Hospital as a result of the failure of the Minister for Health to provide a capital grant for the replacement of medical equipment. The health board are now considering replacing that equipment out of their revenue account. I should also like to raise the failure of the Minister for Health to sanction the creation of a number of consultancy posts at the hospital.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with Deputy Creed.
I seek once again to raise on the Adjournment the serious situation in regard to the Garda Complaints Board who are now one year behind with their cases.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with Deputy Garland.
I seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment the clarification of responsibilities for the upkeep, maintenance and repair of canal site roads between the Office of Public Works and local authorities.
The Ceann Comhairle's office will communicate with Deputy Flanagan.
I seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Parliamentary Question No. 46 of 1 May which relates to the implications of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Dunne versus the National Maternity Hospital.
The Ceann Comhairle will communicate with Deputy Rabbitte.
