It is proposed to take No. a28, statements on resignations from the board of Telecom Éireann; No. 3, Sea Pollution (Amendment) Bill, 1998 – Order for Second Stage and Second Stage; and No. 32, statements on genetically modified organisms, to be taken not later than 1.30 p.m. The order shall not resume thereafter. It is also proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, (i) that the following arrangements shall apply in relation to No. a28: statements shall be confined to the Minister for Public Enterprise and the main spokespersons for the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party whose statements shall not exceed five minutes in each case; following statements, the Minister for Public Enterprise shall take questions; and the proceedings, including questions, if not previously concluded shall be brought to a conclusion after 30 minutes; (ii) the following arrangements shall apply in relation to No. 32: the opening statement of a Minister or Minister of State and of the main spokespersons for the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party shall not exceed 20 minutes in each case; the statement of each other Member called upon shall not exceed ten minutes in each case; Members may share time; and the Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed ten minutes.
Order of Business.
There are two proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with No. a28 agreed?
It is not agreed. May I ask a question on No. a28? May the people who made requests under Standing Order No. 31 on this matter be facilitated as the proposal makes mention of only two Opposition parties?
The proposal is before the House.
Can my question be taken into account? The two main Opposition parties do not represent the range of people who have concerns in this matter.
Standing Order 31 has no connection with this matter.
The Government will facilitate Deputy Sargent. That is not a problem.
Is the proposal for dealing with No. a28 agreed to?
I presume the generous offer from the Tánaiste will extend the period from 30 minutes upwards.
I thank the Tánaiste for her latitude.
The proposal stands with the agreement of—
On a point of order, the Tánaiste's generous offer of speaking time to non-party groups will require a change of the order to give additional time.
We are not a non-party group. We are a registered party. Does the Deputy believe in democracy?
If the Government is offering Government time a change of the order is not necessary. Is the proposal for dealing with No. a28 agreed to? Agreed.
Is the proposal for dealing with No. 32 agreed to?
It is useful to have a debate on genetically modified organisms but we should agree that, immediately after the debate on Telecom Éireann, we will debate the situation in Kosovo. This matter cannot wait. Rather than require a new order to be made, we should agree to interrupt business at 11.30 or 11.45 a.m. to allow a discussion on the situation in Kosovo which has the possibility of creating a general war in the Balkans.
I suggest that the House adopt the Order of Business. It can be modified by the Whips.
I am not happy with that proposal. There should be certainty about the time of the debate on Kosovo. We should know now that this debate will take place immediately after the conclusion of the debate on Telecom Éireann. I ask the Tánaiste to agree to this in principle. The matter should not be deferred until the afternoon.
We are now using valuable time. I suggest we adopt the Order of Business and allow the Whips deal with this matter.
I appreciate and respect your suggestion, although I would have preferred your first suggestion about dealing with Kosovo. Once the order providing that we go from discussing Telecom Éireann to discussing genetically modified organisms is made, the order must subsequently be amended to allow us to debate Kosovo. I suggest that the Tánaiste agree that we discuss Kosovo after the debate on Telecom Éireann and that her agreement be incorporated in the order.
What the Chair is suggesting is quite the normal procedure in these matters.
The House orders its business.
(Dublin West): I am glad the leader of Fine Gael is seconding the proposal I made earlier to debate the situation in Kosovo immediately after No. a28. Regarding No. 32, this is the first debate in the House on genetically modified organisms. It is an important debate and I welcome it.
You may not make a statement on this matter.
(Dublin West): With regard to procedure, only five slots of ten minutes each are available to ordinary Members of the House.
The debate is not due to finish today.
(Dublin West): The debate may not be resumed until the autumn.
That is a matter for the House to decide.
(Dublin West): I simply ask that smaller parties, who have raised this matter more than any others in the past two years, be facilitated today.
There is no reason smaller parties should not contribute in due course.
Will the Tánaiste agree to my proposal? If the Whips reach an agreement to debate Kosovo at any time today, the debate on genetically modified organisms will have to be interrupted. It is not fair to interrupt that debate. It would be preferable for the Tánaiste to agree, here and now, that the debate on Kosovo will follow the discussion on Telecom Éireann.
The Deputy has made that point and it has been dealt with.
The Government is prepared to facilitate a debate. Deputy Bruton has put forward a point of view and others nod in agreement. Deputy Quinn has suggested extending today's sitting. The Government would support that. Our way of ordering business is by agreement between the Whips.
The Order of Business is agreed here.
Following agreement between the Whips. I foresee no difficulty in the Whips reaching agreement in this matter. We should leave it to them.
Is the proposal for dealing with No. 32 agreed to? Agreed.
It will have to be changed.
That is a matter for the House.
Why is the Tánaiste reluctant to deal with the matter?
In view of the fact that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs are both away and will not be present for the debate on Kosovo and because logistical problems must be resolved, I invite the Tánaiste to ensure that a clear Government statement is made on its attitude to the action taken by NATO and to the international rule of law. The campaign, supported by the Labour Party, to secure a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations will not be credible unless we have a view on this matter.
The Deputy may develop that point during the debate.
The House will expect the Government to have made up its mind by the time the debate is held.
Does the Tánaiste accept that it is outrageous that a 78 year old County Galway woman should be left on a trolley in Roscommon County Hospital for more than seven hours and then spend the rest of the night on a bench?
The Deputy will have other opportunities to raise that serious matter. It is not appropriate to the Order of Business.
This matter is probably related to the previous one. This month the European Parliament debated an important report on the status of women's health across Europe. Will the Tánaiste ensure we have a debate on that report in the House at the earliest possible date?
Debates are matters for the Whips.
I appreciate that but from time to time we raise issues in order to have a debate. This is an important matter relating to women's health.
We cannot have questions on debates.
I am sure the Tánaiste is interested in this matter. I ask her to use her influence to ensure we have a proper debate.
The Deputy has made her point.
Mr. Hayes
A report was published yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on security of tenure following the Mespil Flats fiasco some years ago. Does the Govern ment propose to bring forward amending legislation to the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1980? What day next week will we have the debate on the housing crisis as agreed in the Fine Gael initiative of last week?
A landlord and tenant Bill is promised. The debate on housing will be held next Thursday. On the matter raised by Deputy McManus, the Government will facilitate a debate on that, time permitting. Perhaps it could be discussed by the Whips.
Does the Tánaiste know when the legislation will be brought forward to give effect to the accord between the social partners and union recognition?
As the Deputy knows, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, dealt with that matter yesterday. It will probably be after the summer because we have not yet begun to draft the legislation. Certainly it will be brought forward before Partnership 2000 ends.
Will the Tánaiste indicate when we will see legislation to establish a register of convicted paedophiles? Will that legislation be retrospective?
I do not know about making the legislation retrospective but legislation is planned in that area.
When?
I do not know. I will revert to the Deputy.
In the light of concern about countries being used as bases for bombing flights and the effect of the air navigation Euro-control Bill on that matter, will the Tánaiste clarify Ireland's position on that legislation?
I am informed the Bill is due to be published in August of this year.
Will the Tánaiste indicate when the Protection of Children (Hague Convention) Bill will be introduced? It was published in October last year.
I am advised it is not possible to indicate that at this stage.
In section (b) of the legislative programme published at the start of this session, 16 items of legislation are promised for publication up to the end of the Easter recess. We are now in our last week which will be followed by a two week break. On my calculation there are seven Bills outstanding, eight if one takes into account that the human rights legislation is only at heads stage. If not today, perhaps on Tuesday we could get a report from the Government Whip on what legislation will be published so that we can prepare for it.
As the Deputy said, eight items have been published already and I understand four will be published within the next month. I will ensure the Taoiseach gives the information on the other matters to the Deputy on the Order of Business.