It is proposed to take No.11, Aviation Bill 2005[Seanad]— Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; and No. 12, National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006 — Second Stage (resumed). Private Members’ business shall be No. 47, motion re political donations and planning.
Order of Business.
When is it proposed to publish the Abbeylara report into the death of Mr. John Carthy? When can we expect publication of the Harris report on the decline of spoken Irish in primary schools that has been with the Minister for several months? I assume the reason is not to facilitate translation into Irish but that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment wishes to make recommendations before publication. Perhaps the Taoiseach will state when those two important reports are expected.
I do not believe that we have yet received the Abbeylara report, but I may be wrong. I will check and let the Deputy know if I am mistaken. I do not know the situation regarding the Harris report, but I will ask the Minister's office.
Has the Government set its face against using the census to update the electoral register? At Question Time with the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Kitt, there were several suggestions that advantage be taken of the fact that every door is being knocked on, allowing a more reliable database for the register.
Is legislation promised?
As stated previously, I acknowledge the difficulties with the register. I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, has discussed the issues with the Central Statistics Office and has written to the Minister. However, I believe that the CSO is anxious to concentrate on census work, not using it for any similar exercise. The Minister is examining options for the register in the short term. There are also long-term issues, but most of us are concerned with what he can do over the next few months.
I refer the Ceann Comhairle to No. 66 on the Order Paper and ask that the Government make time available to allow the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell——
No. 66 on the Order Paper.
——to correct the record following his unwarranted and untruthful attack on my colleague, Deputy Gormley, in which he made the incredible statement that Progressive Democrats offices had been ransacked by his sort of people.
I ask Deputy Sargent to resume his seat.
Will the Ceann Comhairle allow the Government——
It is not appropriate to debate the issue now.
It would take only a minute to correct the record.
We must deal with the Order of Business.
I am doing so, and with the order in the House, a matter of interest to the Ceann Comhairle.
The Deputy is not doing that, he has gone beyond it. He is asking about a motion on the Order Paper and whether it will be taken in Government time. That is appropriate, but he cannot debate that issue.
I would like the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, to set the record straight.
That does not arise on the Order of Business. The Deputy will have to find some other way to raise the matter.
It was a below-the-belt attack, lobbing a brick through the reputation of Deputy Gormley and the Green Party.
I call the Taoiseach on No. 66.
That is not in order for any Member of this House, least of all a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
It is not appropriate to discuss the motion at this stage.
I ask for a short time.
The Deputy will have an opportunity to do so.
I do not propose to give Government time.
I call Deputy Kehoe.
I am not prepared to accept that a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may enter this House and abuse his power.
The Deputy is being disorderly and I ask that he obey the Chair.
I am not in the business of being disorderly, I am in the business of setting the record straight, and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is allowing an allegation to hang in the air.
Deputy Sargent should resume his seat when the Chair is speaking. He has an option. He has submitted a motion to the Order Paper and requested Government time, which is not available. The matter can be debated in Private Members' time and that is a matter for the Deputy. We will not debate it now. I call Deputy Kehoe.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has a responsibility to this House to uphold standards, tell the truth and not impugn the reputation of any Member in such a fashion.
I ask the Deputy to resume his seat. The Standing Orders apply to him as to any other Member.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform must also abide by Standing Orders.
The Chair has explained to the Deputy that he is being disorderly.
I ask the Ceann Comhairle to ensure that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform abide by Standing Orders.
No, the Deputy is asking the Chair to request that he leave the House.
There is no way that the Chair can ask me to leave.
On a point of order, it is disgraceful for the Chair to suggest that my party leader will have to leave the House when——
That is not a point of order, and I ask the Deputy to resume his seat.
That is an abuse.
The Deputy knows that it is inappropriate to proceed in this way. The Green Party has submitted a motion to the Order Paper and if it wishes to debate that, it may do so in Private Members' time. I call Deputy Kehoe.
The Ceann Comhairle should let me make my point of order.
That is not a point of order.
We can proceed here very rapidly if the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform makes a statement. It would take him 15 seconds to do so. What is wrong with the Minister that he——
If the Deputy wishes to disrupt the business of the House, he may do so, but the Chair will move on to Report Stage of the next Bill. A party cannot come in here and disrupt the business of the House in this fashion.
The Ceann Comhairle has a responsibility to this House.
It is entirely at the discretion of the Chair.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is abusing the Ceann Comhairle's position and that of the House, as well as my colleague, Deputy Gormley.
On a point of order, the Minister wishes to make a statement.
The Deputy is well aware of Standing Orders.
I ask the Ceann Comhairle to uphold the standards of this House.
There will be a debate tonight when the Deputy will have plenty of time.
If I accused the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, of attacking the Green Party's office, would the Chair allow it to stand?
I withdraw the remark.
I thank the Minister.
While the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is in the business of apologising and withdrawing accusations, will he also withdraw the scurrilous remarks that he directed at Daily Ireland, a newspaper that many people enjoy and look forward to every day of the year?
That is not on the Order of Business.
The Minister should withdraw the remarks and apologise. We can be here all day.
This week a Wexford man will appear in court for refusing to pay €362 to the Health Service Executive because, of five nights he spent in Wexford General Hospital, four of them were spent on a trolley. The Taoiseach was away last week, and if he went to his hotel room to find that there was no bed and that he had to spend the night on the floor——
That is not in order. I suggest that the Deputy submit a question to the Minister.
——would he let the taxpayers of Ireland pay the bill?
I call Deputy McManus.
I want to ask the Taoiseach a question.
The Deputy has already gone outside the Order of Business. I call Deputy McManus.
Does the Taoiseach think it is fair that a constituent must pay the full price of a bed, having spent four nights on a hospital trolley?
That question is appropriate to the Minister for Health and Children and I ask Deputy Kehoe to be orderly in the House. He should provide a good example to other Members.
It is an absolute scandal that the Health Service Executive is claiming €362 from a constituent who spent four out of five nights on a trolley.
We must move on to the next business.
The Ceann Comhairle called me and I am entitled to ask a question.
The Deputy will be first tomorrow.
I was called by you.
Yes, but because of disruption in the House, the Deputy could not be heard.
I am entitled to ask my question. I have never had a problem being heard in this House.
The Chair could not hear the Deputy when she was called.
The only person stopping me now is the Ceann Comhairle.
The Deputy will be first tomorrow.
She is the same as ever.
The leader of my party should be careful. I would like to ask the Taoiseach a question, and I am completely in order. Yesterday the chief executive officer of the Health Service Executive admitted that accident and emergency services are in a chronic state of crisis.
Does the Deputy have a question that is in order?
The HSE has been unable to state what happened to €56 million. Will a Supplementary Estimate be introduced? Does the Taoiseach know where the sum went or can money that is desperately needed in the health service not be found? Months have passed since the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, came into the House and alerted us to the fact that it was missing.
I stated that the HSE would report to the Department of Finance in April. The Minister has said that he would know the position then, but not until the end of the first quarter.
I call Deputy Crawford.
The Minister told us that he would know by February.
I thought that he said April.
In light of the report issued a few days ago focusing especially on the problem of young people drinking, will the Taoiseach reconsider the deal that he made with the drink industry?
The question is appropriate to the relevant Minister.
Will he bring back the Bill on advertising alcohol?
The Taoiseach to reply on the legislation.
The Minister decided to postpone its introduction pending the outcome of the voluntary agreement. That period has not yet concluded.
More vested interests.
I have two questions in respect of legislation. Today, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform proposed 200 amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 despite its passage through Second Stage in the House. As there are only 38 sections in the Bill and there will be no Second Stage perusal of such an extensive change to that legislation, would it not be better and more appropriate if it were withdrawn and debated again in the House from the outset?
When is it planned to bring the Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006, which was published last week, to Second Stage in this House? What programme does the Taoiseach and his colleagues propose to introduce to inform people of the methodology of application?
The second question is not appropriate. The Taoiseach to reply on the legislation.
On the legislation, will the Deputy remind me which Bill he was referring to?
I referred to the Criminal Justice Bill 2004——
Yes. I dealt with that earlier.
—— and the 200 amendments which were only introduced today.
I said there would be a recommittal to Second Stage. Effectively this means it will be a Second Stage debate.
What about the Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill?
It awaits an order for Second Stage.
When will it come before the House?
As the Tánaiste wants to take it soon, an order for Second Stage will be made very shortly.
Deputy Ó Caoláin has asked my question. As the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is now in the business of withdrawals, perhaps he will withdraw the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 so it can be recommitted to Second Stage? It is now nearly ten times——
That is out of order. The Taoiseach has answered that question.
It is now nearly ten times as long as when it was introduced.
I refer to the energy (miscellaneous provisions) Bill. A few weeks ago before the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources travelled to meet Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's advisers on energy, he informed Members that he would announce the new Bill. Members still await the details.
I do not have a date for it.