It is proposed to take No. 8, motion re ministerial rota for parliamentary questions; No. 9, motion re Stardust fire tragedy; and No. 10, motion re by-election for Dublin South, to be taken at 7 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 9, whichever is the later. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. and business shall be interrupted on the adjournment of Private Members' business which shall be No. 51, motion re energy prices, to be taken for 90 minutes at 7 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 10, whichever is the later; No. 8 shall be decided without debate; the proceedings on No. 9 shall be brought to a conclusion at 7 p.m. and the following arrangements shall apply — the speech of a Minister or Minister of State and of the main spokespersons for the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party, who shall be called upon in that order, shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case; the speech of each other Member called upon shall not exceed ten minutes in each case; Members may share time and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed five minutes; and the proceedings on No. 10 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 30 minutes tonight and the speeches shall be confined to the main spokespersons for the Labour Party and the Fine Gael Party and to a Minister or Minister of State, who shall be called upon in that order, who may share their time and which shall not exceed ten minutes in each case.
Order of Business.
There are four proposals before the House. Is the proposal that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. agreed to?
I will not be calling a vote. I made my point at 2.40 p.m. My preference would have been a change of business to allow for further discussion of the announcements made by the Taoiseach but I do not wish to delay the time of the House by calling a vote so I agree with the proposal.
Is the proposal for dealing with No. 8, without debate, agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 9 agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 10 agreed to? Agreed.
I call Deputy Kenny on the Order of Business.
When is it expected the Government will announce its recapitalisation programme for the banks? Will the detail of the extent of liability to the State——
This is not Leaders' Questions and I cannot allow that question, unfortunately.
It is a question on legislation.
If it is a question on legislation, I ask Deputy Kenny to tell me what legislation is concerned.
There will have to be some legislation governing changes to the structure of the Irish banking system, as the Ceann Comhairle well knows.
Is legislation promised in this area, Tánaiste?
Legislation is promised and the Minister is currently working on that legislation. He hopes to bring it to the House as quickly as possible.
That does not answer my question. It is not good enough for the Tánaiste to say, "as quickly as possible". Is the Tánaiste aware that the international bond markets are looking at this country in the same way as they look at a bank and there is a serious lack of trust and confidence? The people now own Anglo Irish Bank and they need to know the extent of liability. As we speak the situation is that no Irish bank is viable without the support of Government. This is a matter of the utmost concern. Credit is not flowing to small business——
The Tánaiste has answered the question.
——and for that reason I want a more accurate answer as to when the Government expects to bring the legislation to the House to give effect to recapitalisation of some of the Irish banks.
I do not know if the Tánaiste can be of any more assistance to Deputy Kenny.
I will not mislead the House. I am not in a position to say for definite on what date this legislation will be brought before the House. The Minister is working on this matter. It will be brought before the House as quickly as possible but I am not in a position to give a definitive date as to when it will be before the House.
She cannot do any better than that, Deputy Kenny.
My understanding was that it was the Tánaiste's original intention to bring in the recapitalisation programme in conjunction with the announcements made today. When the Tánaiste says that the Minister for Finance is working on the legislation, are we talking about this week or next week or the week after that? Will she give the House some indication of the timeframe?
I do not know how the Tánaiste can help with that.
It has not been brought to Government yet so I cannot give the Deputy a definite date. It is our expectation that it will be brought forward quickly.
It is very urgent.
I appreciate that.
I am a little surprised at the Tánaiste's answer to Deputy Kenny because the Government's legislative programme lists the National Pensions Reserve Fund (amendment) Bill which is to give effect to the Government decision to recapitalise the banks through the National Pensions Reserve Fund and related matters concerning the National Pensions Reserve Fund. The Tánaiste has just said that the matter has not yet been brought to Government. Where is the National Pensions Reserve Fund Bill that is promised legislation and which is to allow for the use of the fund to recapitalise the banks and when will it be before the House? Will the recapitalisation of the banks require legislation other than the promised legislation in the list? I think everybody understood that the recapitalisation of the banks was something the Government was immediately engaged upon and that it was imminent and urgent business. A piece of legislation is promised to address it because we are told the funding is to come from the National Pensions Reserve Fund. Where is this Bill and when will the House see it?
The legislation has been signed off by Government today. The specific details on the recapitalisation of the banks have not been completed and until such time as they have been finalised by the Minister and his Department, we will not be in a position to say what day it will come before the House. The over-arching piece of legislation was signed off this afternoon.
When will the National Pensions Reserve Fund Bill be published? Will that Bill be published and brought through the House before recapitalisation? I understand this is the Bill which allows the National Pensions Reserve Fund to be used for recapitalisation so it would appear logical that it would have to be enacted before recapitalisation.
The Deputy is correct in that the Bill will have to be enacted first before recapitalisation occurs. However, the specific proposals must be signed off by the Cabinet before we can finalise matters in the House.
The Taoiseach may have answered this question already but it is a legislative matter. I assume the new pension levy will require some form of legislation and I assume it will need to be brought to the House at some stage. I ask for more information on this matter. The Tánaiste may be aware that a large number of public servants, particularly younger new entrants to the public service, have large mortgages and already pay a pension levy. Will this new pension levy be in addition to that?
This is the Order of Business, not Leaders' Questions.
I would hate to see the Government hitting younger people so hard.
The Tánaiste to reply on the legislative aspect.
Legislation will need to be brought before the House and signed off before 1 March 2009 and it is being worked on.
I wish to ask the Tánaiste about a couple of issues. The Taoiseach in his statement describes the legislation on the pensions levy as being urgent. He suggested that one part of it will be for the general Civil Service and the other part for the local authorities. Does this mean that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will be bringing in one piece of legislation and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, and the Greens will be bringing in another? The Taoiseach's statement contained a reference to a house tax which was mentioned in the budget.
As I said, the Deputy can only ask a question on legislation.
Will the levy be introduced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley?
We have just received the Exchequer figures, as of 31 January, but no profiles of tax receipts and expenditure have been produced. Every other year the profiles have been given——
Deputy Burton, I cannot allow this.
——on 26 or 27 January in order that we can understand the figures. Today the Taoiseach said the drop of €900 million in tax revenue and an increase in expenditure of €600 million were in line with the profiles but we did not receive them.
Deputy Burton will have to table a question on that matter. I call the Tánaiste on the legislative question.
That is a breach of precedent.
I know.
I have the dates for several years on which we received the profiles.
The Deputy will have to raise the matter in some other way.
When will we receive the expenditure profiles?
This is not in order.
It is in order. How are we supposed to do our business——
I am sorry, Deputy, but I will decide what is in order.
——when the Government is keeping the information to itself?
This is not in order.
Can we receive the information?
There will be one Bill to deal with the matter.
What Department will introduce it?
The Department of Finance.
What about the house tax?
Deputy, come on. I call Deputy Ó Caoláin.
That matter will be dealt with in separate legislation, the local government Bill.
Will it be introduced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government?
Yes.
It is not a laughing matter. That is the problem with the Tánaiste. To her it is all just a big joke.
The Deputy should grow up.
No wonder she has not got a clue.
I call Deputy Ó Caoláin.
To cut to the chase, my curiosity has been aroused by the Taoiseach's earlier address in the statements on the crisis in the economy in which he referred to legislation to deal with pension related measures. Will the Tánaiste indicate the numbers of Bills that will be generated by the measures announced this afternoon? Rather than dignifying the house measures, will she indicate——
It is not possible on the Order of Business to say how many Bills will be needed.
——how much legislation will be required on the back of what the Taoiseach advised the Chamber?
It is impossible to answer such a statistical question on the Order of Business.
I believe the Tánaiste does know.
One Bill will be brought forward by the Department of Finance. The quip from the Labour Party was inappropriate. There will be one Bill to give effect to the measures discussed in the House. On other matters, I am not in a position to say what legislative measures will be introduced.
I must repeat the Order of Business is not Question Time. Details of the kind being sought could be not be expected of anybody. I call Deputy Durkan.
It is either promised or threatened legislation.
Deputy, come on. What is the number of Bills? The Deputy is an experienced parliamentarian and knows what I am saying.
We are more interested in the threatened legislation and what is coming down the track.
I wish to raise two issues. For several months there have been numerous incidents involving explosive devices such as pipe bombs and hand grenades.
Preambles are not allowed on the Order of Business.
There is promised legislation.
I know——
With various other indications of an increase in criminal violence, what is the Government's intention to put the criminals involved behind bars? Under which legislation is it proposed to do this?
Trawling and fishing are not allowed on the Order of Business.
It is in order.
I have told the Deputy 1,000 times to ask about specific legislation.
I am asking a question on legislation.
The Stardust debate is next for which we will only have one hour and three quarters.
Will it be done under the criminal justice (forensic sampling and evidence) Bill, the criminal justice (miscellaneous provisions) Bill, the criminal justice (money laundering) Bill, the criminal procedure Bill or, perhaps, the explosives Bill?
All the Bills mentioned, apart from the explosives Bill, will be taken this session, as I told the Deputy last week. The explosives legislation will be taken later in the year.
We had explosive legislation today.
I wish to raise another issue which I am sure is close to the Ceann Comhairle's heart. In the past nine years various Ministers boasted abroad about Ireland being a high wage economy.
Will the Deputy ask a question?
Several Ministers have said so. After today's performance, can we presume there will be a revision and that perhaps the begging Bill will be introduced as a matter of urgency?
I do not know anything about the begging Bill. Does the Tánaiste?
It is promised legislation.
The vagrancy Bill will be introduced later this year.
Otherwise known as the begging Bill.
That is an inappropriate term to use.
It is very appropriate, as the Tánaiste knows well.
With the Minister for Health and Children sitting beside the Tánaiste, will she inform the House when the health information Bill be published?
As it is out for consultation, I am not in a position to say when it will be before the House.
In the light of the Taoiseach's announcement to reduce overseas development aid by €95 million, will there be an impact on the provision of the Irish diaspora endowment fund Bill to provide €10 million over five years for the various organisations involved? Does the Government still intend to meet our commitment to the millennium development goal of reaching the figure of 0.7% of gross domestic product by 2012
That question would be more appropriate to the line Minister. When is the legislation due?
In the middle of the year.