It is proposed to take No. 5, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the dispatch of a further contingent of the Permanent Defence Force for service with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL); No. 9, Nurses and Midwives Bill 2010 — Report and Final Stages (resumed) to adjourn at 2 p.m today if not previously concluded;No. 7, Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011 — Second Stage (resumed); and No. 10, statements on suicide prevention (resumed). It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that the proceedings on No. 5 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 65 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: the speeches shall be confined to a Minister or Minister of State and to the main spokespersons for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order, who may share their time and who shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case, and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed five minutes. The Dáil, on its rising today, shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 3 May 2011.
Order of Business
Is the proposal for dealing with No. 5, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the dispatch a further contingent of the Permanent Defence Force for service with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal that the Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 3 May 2011 agreed to? Agreed.
Any privatisation or disposal of State assets under the McCarthy report would entail legislation. Given various personal statements made outlining the opposition of members of the Government party to the sale of Bord na Móna, Coillte and a number of other State companies, can the Tánaiste assure us that we will not see legislation to dispose of these assets?
The Taoiseach referred this week to the proposed constitutional convention. It has been recent custom in this House for measures relating to the Constitution to be subject to all-party discussion prior to publication. The Taoiseach indicated that the convention is to be a cross-party, cross-community entity, like us in Dáil Éireann, although we apparently are not fit to constitute ourselves as such a convention.
There are two Ministers who cannot be held accountable by the House for their actions. Fianna Fáil has placed a notice of motion to address this position immediately instead of waiting for legislation, which would allow the Minister for public expenditure and reform to answer questions on Thursday, 5 May and the Minister for children on Tuesday, 10 May.
I will gladly answer questions.
The Minister is too busy on "Morning Ireland".
Will the Government give time for this motion?
On the possible disposal of State assets, the McCarthy report, which was commissioned by Deputy Lenihan himself in his capacity as Minister for Finance in the last Government, was published yesterday. The contents of the report will be considered by the Government and if any proposals arise from it that require legislation, such legislation will be brought before the House.
It is intended there will be all-party discussions on the proposals for the constitutional convention, which will take place when the Government has given further consideration to it.
A Ministers and secretaries (amendment) Bill will provide for the formal establishment of the Departments of the two Ministers to whom Deputy Lenihan would like to address questions. It is at an advanced stage and will be before the House shortly after we resume.
We have been promised statements the week we return from the Easter recess on the revised memorandum of understanding. The revised memorandum has not been published and although it is being discussed in Washington, Frankfurt and God knows where else, Members of this House have not had sight of it. Instead we have been drip-fed elements of the discussions the Government has had with the troika.
From the comments from the Minister for public expenditure and reform this morning, it is clear one of those conversations has been about the disposal of State assets. Judging by the Minister's comments this morning, it is clear the Government is now prepared to go down the cul-de-sac of selling State assets in a bid to pay bank and bondholder debts. Is the Government in the course of yet another U-turn, whereby the proceeds of the privatisation programme will not find their way into stimulus and investment in jobs but will, in accordance with the views of the IMF and EU, be used for debt writedown?
When will the revised memorandum of understanding be published? Will Members of this House see it in advance of the debate next week? Can the Tánaiste give any assurance, as the leader of the Labour Party, that he has not bought wholesale into the Fine Gael-led agenda of flogging the family silver to bail out the very wealthy?
The Deputy is supposed to ask a question.
Deputy Butler should desist. I will deal with this matter.
It is an absolute disgrace. Deputies are supposed to ask questions and receive answers.
Deputy Butler should address his remarks through the Chair.
A Deputy
Deputy Butler should take his beating.
Deputy McDonald should have asked a question.
If Deputy Butler does his job, I will do mine.
We will be here for the next five years listening to waffle from Deputy McDonald.
The Deputy should get used to it.
It is an absolute disgrace.
There will not be a dry day in the House.
The previous occasion on which Deputy McDonald accused me of performing a U-turn was in respect of the national minimum wage. She was wrong about that. She is wrong on this occasion with regard to the many more U-turns she is imagining——
She is willingly wrong.
Will Deputy Howlin indicate if I am wrong with regard to the sale of State assets?
——and attributing to the Government. The EU-IMF programme will be debated for two days in the House when it returns from the Easter recess. The memorandum of understanding will be published when it is completed. It has not yet been completed.
As stated earlier, we were presented with a report on the sale of State assets by the McCarthy group. That report will be considered by the Government and by individual Departments. If any decisions are made on foot of the report, they will be brought before the House.
On a point of order——
Deputy Higgins is next to contribute.
The Minister for public expenditure and reform stated that the Government will not delay in moving on the issue of the sale of State assets. Are Labour Party Members seriously prepared to be part of this neoliberal hucksters deal——
That is not a matter for the Order of Business. The Deputy cannot question the legal intentions of the Labour Party. He should ask a question.
The Deputy should ask a question.
——which will involve pawning the assets of the people to pay off moneylenders. Has the Labour Party learned nothing from the debacles involving Telecom Éireann and Team Aer Lingus?
Deputy Higgins should ask a question.
A question.
Deputy Butler should refrain from interrupting. I will deal with this issue. Deputy Higgins should proceed.
Perhaps we should invite the Deputy opposite, whose name escapes me, to take the Chair in place of the Ceann Comhairle?
Will Deputy Higgins please proceed?
Deputy Higgins is in for it now.
It is Deputy Butler.
Deputy Butler should refrain from interrupting.
We want to encourage everyone to have their say but newer Members should not attempt to silence those of us who have been here previously.
Ask a question.
Deputy Higgins should proceed. He should pose a direct question to the Tánaiste and should not worry about the Labour Party or anyone else at this point. Thank you, Deputy.
We gave up worrying about the Deputy a long time ago.
The Labour Party will have a great dealt to worry about when working class people realise what it is up to.
Deputy Higgins should stick to the script.
Deputy Higgins is locked in an ideological groundhog day.
Will the Tánaiste be much more precise with regard to the timetable he envisages in respect of this matter, including that part of it which relates to legislative issues? Will he correct the misleading impression that this sale has something to do with job creation when the EU-IMF deal provides that the money will disappear into the black hole that is European bankers' debts?
The Deputy can make those points during the debate.
The McCarthy group report will be considered by the Government and by individual Departments with line responsibility for various State agencies and bodies. The comment by the Minister for public expenditure and reform, Deputy Howlin, to the effect that there will not be a delay relates to making a decision on these matters. This Government's approach is that it makes decisions as quickly as possible. I am sure Deputy Higgins would agree that it is important to have a Government which is decisive.
When Deputy Higgins has an opportunity to read the report he will discover that it is clear that there should not be a fire sale of State assets. He will also find that there is a requirement in any event for regulatory changes to be made in respect of State assets and agencies, irrespective of whether such assets are held by State bodies or whether they are disposed of. Obviously, that is a matter which much be addressed. The issue of disposing of State assets, if and when it arises, will only be considered in the light of market conditions. I reassure Deputy Higgins that nobody is in any rush to dispose of State assets. If there is any disposal of State assets to be addressed, a decision on that will be made by the Government.
It should not even be on the agenda.
In addition, such matters will be brought before the House.
I wonder what the great James Connolly would think of this.
Before calling Deputy McCarthy, I ask Members to adhere to the Standing Order which allows for questions on promised business.
Thank you, a Ceann Comhairle. Unlike previous speakers, I will certainly comply with Standing Orders.
Will the Tánaiste indicate when the Central Bank (supervision and enforcement) Bill will be published? It is obvious that supervision within the financial sector was, to say the least, lacking in recent years. I appreciate that a number of measures have been put in place in the context of merging various units and providing and enhancing supervisory functions. In light of the current crisis and the climate which obtains, will the Tánaiste indicate when the Bill to which I refer will be brought before the House?
Preparation of the heads of the Central Bank (supervision and enforcement) Bill — the purpose of which is to provide for enhancement of financial regulation and expand the supervisory and enforcement powers of the Central Bank — is at an advanced stage. It is intended that the draft version of the Bill will be brought before the Government shortly to facilitate its publication. We hope it will be published by the summer.
Deputy Boyd Barrett on promised business.
I have read most of the McCarthy report and I found it terrifying. It recommends asset stripping of this country which would involve the sale of vital State assets and companies — by any definition, these are strategic assets — to pay off the bankers, gamblers and speculators.
I am not sure if the Deputy heard me direct him to ask a question on promised business.
When will the Government's response to this document be brought before the Dáil for debate or in some other shape or form?
The Tánaiste has already dealt with that.
He has not informed the House with regard to when the matter will be debated.
He did. It will be dealt with the week after next.
When precisely and under what format will the House discuss a plan to asset strip this country to pay off the bankers?
As I have said on three occasions this morning, the report has just been published. It will be considered by the Government and by individual Departments. I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for the partial opinion he has expressed, which is based on his partial reading of the report.
I only received my copy at teatime yesterday.
The Deputy is now too frightened to finish reading it.
If Deputy Boyd Barrett wants to request an opportunity to have the report debated in the House, when he and other Members have had an opportunity to read it in full, the Government will be glad to oblige by making time available for such a debate.
Yesterday the Taoiseach stated that he has agreed with each member of Government his or her priorities for this Administration's first 100 days in office, including legislation to be published. The legislative programme published by the Government does not refer to the legislation involved in this regard. Will the Tánaiste make arrangements to furnish Members with copies of a list of such legislation?
I am not quite sure what the Deputy means. The legislative programme——
The Taoiseach stated yesterday that he had agreed with each member of Government his or her priorities for the first 100 days, including legislation to be published.
Yes, that is right and it is reflected in the legislative programme that has been published. Section A of the programme lists the Bills expected to be published by the summer.
The programme for Government makes much mention of legislation for the creation of employment and reform of the social welfare system. What legislation or measures will be put in place to ensure that employers adhere to the regulations currently in place for the protection of employees, specifically the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003? Reported cases are showing that employers, specifically in a plant in Cork, are using this as a measure to renege on redundancy payments.
No legislation is needed to require the enforcement of existing law in respect of employee protection. That is a matter for the enforcement bodies. I will check the position regarding the EU regulations to which Deputy Lynch referred and get back to him.
It is not good enough for the Tánaiste to leave open the question of when the McCarthy report may be discussed in the Chamber. I wish to take up his suggestion that we would discuss it, not at some eventual day when the Cabinet has discussed it, but immediately upon our return. Some 40,000 semi-State workers, of whom I am one——
Is the Deputy double-jobbing?
——are trembling, having listened to the Minister with responsibility for public expenditure and reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, on the radio this morning talking about his imminent decision to proceed with the sale of State assets, which is a threat to those workers.
One person one job.
I find it reprehensible——
Deputy, you have just asked when the report will be debated.
If I could speak without interruption I would ask that.
You are asking it.
What security will the Tánaiste give to those workers and their families and to the taxpayers that he will not stand over the butchery of our assets?
Not on the Order of Business.
We know he is already committed at least to selecting from Mr. McCarthy's menu. We have a right to know, as do those people, which ones he has his eye on. I find it disgusting that Members on the other side are having merriment at the issue of workers' rights.
Tánaiste, when is the debate likely to take place, so that we can clear up this issue?
The Government is open to having this debate, by agreement with the Whips. There is a programme for the week when the House returns after Easter.
The Whips will meet.
I am quite happy to have a debate in the following week. The Government is quite agreeable to having a debate in the House on the McCarthy report, and to lay to rest the fear mongering in which the Deputy herself has been engaged.
The fear is in the report.
A Deputy
They should finish reading it first.
Fear is what they thrive on.
The programme for Government states that approximately €2 billion of non-strategic assets will be sold off. In the aftermath of the publication of the McCarthy report, there is much concern regarding the extent of that sale.
I am speaking now as a Donegal man. Previous reports by Mr. Colm McCarthy terrified people in rural Ireland. He talked about closing small schools and rural transport, blocking community development funding and abolishing town councils. Given Mr. McCarthy's history as a right-wing economist, can the Tánaiste give clarification very soon? What are non-strategic assets? What does the Government mean by that? Will the resources gained by this sale be invested in job creation or will they be given to the IMF, the EU and the bondholders? The people seek urgent clarification.
On the same issue and for the information of the House, at the Whips' meeting, neither the Fianna Fáil nor Sinn Féin, nor the Independents sought a debate on the McCarthy report.
Where is their concern now.
l have asked a question. Will it be answered?
Is the Tánaiste in a position to comment on his briefings with Irish ambassadors at the EU?
That is not a matter for the Order of Business.
A Cheann Comhairle, will my question be answered?
It will not. It is out of order. It is a matter for the Whips to agree a date for a debate to take place. That has already been made clear.
On a point of order, when will the legislation be brought before the House?
There is no legislation.
The legislation as promised in the programme for Government to implement the promises made to the people.
Please mention the legislation, Deputy.
No legislation is necessary.
When will the Tánaiste bring clarification on this issue? People are very worried.
That is not a point of order, Deputy.
Are you protecting the Tánaiste, a Cheann Comhairle? That is not your role.
I ask the Deputy to withdraw that remark.
Why can I not get an answer?
Withdraw the remark.
This is the biggest issue in Ireland today.
Please withdraw that remark.
I withdraw the remark. Can we have an answer to the question?
There is no answer to a question that cannot be answered.
This is the biggest issue for the people of Ireland, who are terrified.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I do not want to leave this matter hanging. The McCarthy report has been published. It will be considered by the Government and by individual Departments. The Government is agreeable to have the report debated in the House. The opinions of any Member about the contents of the report or where it is going can be set out in the course of that debate. We are agreeable to have the debate by arrangement with the Whips and to have it as early as possible on our resumption after Easter.
I assure the Deputy that there is no legislation. There are no proposals on the table at present. Nothing will be sold by anybody before the debate takes place in the House.