It is proposed to take No. 5, motion re report of the Standing Order 103 Select Committee on the proposal for a Council directive on a common consolidated corporate tax base, COM (2011) 121. It is also 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. 19, motion re Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which shall take place at 7 p.m. or at the conclusion of No. 5, whichever is the later, and which shall adjourn after 90 minutes; the proceedings on No. 5 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 7 p.m. by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in regard to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Finance, and the following arrangements shall apply: the speeches of the Chairman of the Standing Order 103 Select Committee and the main spokespersons for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order, shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case, the speeches of each other Member called upon shall not exceed ten minutes in each case, Members may share time, a Minister or a Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed ten minutes, and amendments proposed to the motion may include those that substitute, add to or otherwise vary the reasons for opinion set out in paragraphs 6 to 10 of the report of the Standing Order 103 Select Committee; and the Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 1.30 p.m. tomorrow and the following arrangements shall apply: there shall be no suspension of sitting under Standing Order 23(1) and questions for oral answer to other members of the Government shall be taken at the conclusion of questions for oral answer to the Taoiseach and shall conclude after 75 minutes.
Order of Business
There are three proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 5 agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal that the Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 1.30 p.m. tomorrow agreed to? Agreed.
It is now over ten weeks since the Taoiseach first committed to enabling the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to be accountable to the Dáil. As we saw at the weekend, he has been very much available to the national and international media and is even willing to have a public disagreement with the Minister for Finance on the restructuring of the debt. It appears the only people whose questions he is not in a position to answer are Members of Dáil Éireann. There is the motion on the Order Paper that would allow questions to be tabled to him immediately. Passing this motion would mean we would not have to wait until the end of next month at the earliest to question a person who is, even by Deputy Brendan Howlin's own admission, one of the most important Ministers in the Government. Will the Taoiseach allow the motion on the Order Paper to be passed without debate to allow us to bring closure to this issue?
The Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, wants to be able to come into the House to answer questions. The Bill to give effect to the setting up of his Department was cleared by the Government this morning and will be published in the next couple of days. I hope we can get it through as quickly as possible. The transfer of powers to the second Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, is quite detailed. Splitting the Department of Finance into two separate Departments requires absolute clarity such that nobody will make a mistake. The Bill was cleared this morning and will be published in the next couple of days. We will then get on with the matter. I can certainly attest to the fact that the Minister wants to be able to answer questions for everyone in the House.
There are reports that the joint labour committee wage agreement was discussed by the Cabinet. Given the impact any decisions may have on the 300,000 low paid workers affected by it, is it intended to bring forward legislation? If so, when will it be published? What changes to terms and conditions will be contained in the agreement?
The Government has not concluded its deliberations in respect of that. When it has, they will be announced as quickly as possible. We have set the date of 1 July for implementing the reversal of the cut in the minimum wage, as was announced by the Minister for Finance in his contribution in the House on the jobs initiative last week.
The Taoiseach will be aware of the difficulties faced by a major construction company in the west and the impact on 400 subcontractor jobs. When does he intend to introduce the Construction Contracts Bill which was passed by the Seanad? The issue targeted by the company was the difficulty in getting payment for Government contracts. The Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, has made some commitments regarding a prompt payments for Government contracts Bill. Will that be introduced soon?
This is an important issue. The company in question is carrying out work on a number of Government contracts at present, as the Deputy is aware. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has agreed to bring the Bill passed by the Seanad to the Dáil but a number of additions to that Bill are being worked on in the Department. In respect of the Bill to be introduced by Deputy Bruton, I will refer back to the Deputy with an approximate date as soon as I have it.
Is there a time-line for the introduction of the Construction Contracts Bill?
It will be taken promptly by the Minister for Finance.
How promptly?
I will give the Deputy a date.
One of the consequences of the pension levy introduced to fund the jobs initiative is that it will refocus people's attention on the state of pension funds in Ireland and the size of the liability they could generate in the future. With that in mind, when will the promised public service pension single scheme Bill be introduced? Will it be before the summer recess?
It is listed for this session and it is hoped to take it in this session. A number of legislative measures will be required under the IMF-EU agreement and these are time-lined; in other words, they must be introduced by particular dates to comply with the conditions of the agreement. I am examining the range and extent of what is required in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General and the facilities and resources it has to produce this. I will inform the House as soon as I have a clear picture in that regard. It is critical that we be in compliance with those time-lines to comply with the conditions of the IMF-EU bailout. Therefore, legislation that is already listed might not receive the same priority but I will give the House full information when I know the range and extent of what we must do.
I have a question for the Taoiseach but you, a Cheann Comhairle, might be able to offer advice. In all my years as a Member of the House I have not received a reply to a parliamentary question like the one I received last week from the HSE. It was about a specific case involving a seven year old boy. The HSE response was that it cannot——
I appreciate that it is an important issue but it is not appropriate to the Order of Business.
It is just a sentence. The HSE said it could not provide information on specific cases. That is not my experience, and it is a serious development.
It is not appropriate to the Order of Business.
What do you suggest?
It could be the subject of an Adjournment debate.
That is fine in terms of raising the issue with the Minister, but there is also the issue of whether this is to be the practice. The Taoiseach and other Members will be aware that it has been difficult to get responses from the parliamentary affairs division of the HSE. However, if it is now to be the practice that one cannot raise a specific case——
I suggest the Deputy raise it on the Adjournment.
——it is a very serious development. I ask the Taoiseach to raise it with the Minister. Whatever your good offices can do to help, a Cheann Comhairle, will be much appreciated.
I am always available to help, Deputy, but not in this way.
It is in the interest of all Deputies. Can the Taoiseach confirm that he will raise it?
Perhaps Deputy Ó Caoláin will give me a copy of that response. It is in the interests of every Deputy to be able to get appropriate information about any individual case. I made that case from the other side of the House for long enough. In the same way that the Minister for Justice and Equality answers for the Garda Síochána in the House in respect of individual cases with appropriate information, the same should apply in other Departments. The issue is to put a structure in place that achieves that. I invite the Deputy either to take the Ceann Comhairle's advice and raise the case in an Adjournment debate or to give me a copy of the reply he received. We will see if we can do something about this.
I thank the Taoiseach.
Given the Taoiseach's statement and the statements of many people in the media and elsewhere about the importance of the visits by the Queen and President Obama, the cost and the various issues that have arisen, I am surprised there will not be an opportunity for statements to be made in the House.
There have been plenty of statements.
It is a genuine question. There has not been enough debate. Given the huge cost involved and the major impact it is having——
And the benefits.
The Deputy is making one.
——are we not going to discuss it at any stage?
The Deputy should put down a parliamentary question and he will get all the details he wants.
Has the Deputy anything intelligent to say about the visit?
On another matter——
On the Order of Business.
The Minister should stop barracking. I am asking a question. Another matter I raised previously was whether we would have a chance to debate the McCarthy report on the sale of State assets. The Taoiseach suggested that we discuss it with the Whips. It was raised at the Whips' meeting but we were told there is no appetite to discuss the report and the sale of State assets. Will we get a chance to discuss the report?
The Deputy does not suffer from amnesia. I heard him raise the Queen's visit in the House in disparaging terms last week. If the Deputy wants an opportunity to discuss the McCarthy report, we will provide it but last week Deputies were complaining that all the House was doing was discussing reports and that it should move on to legislation. We are doing that. The Deputy's party Whip made this point very vociferously.
It is not a party, it is a Technical Group.
I give Deputy Boyd Barrett a commitment that he will have an opportunity to discuss the McCarthy report. To sharpen the Deputy's memory, he raised the question of Her Majesty's visit last week.
That was for three minutes.
After three minutes it would clearly be a waste of time to give the Deputy more.
The Deputy went to Harrods for his shirt.
There is also the opportunity to raise issues in Private Members' time.
Does the Taoiseach believe new legislation or an amendment to existing legislation will be required following what emerged on the "Prime Time" programme, entitled "Dodgy Cabs Ltd.", last night?
This is not appropriate to the Order of Business.
It is about legislation and whether new legislation is required or if existing legislation should be amended. What emerged in the programme about the dark underbelly of the Irish taxi industry and the fact that criminals are operating taxis are matters of great concern and many people contacted me about it this morning, particularly as the centre that featured in the programme is located in my constituency.
I thank Deputy Keating for raising this. It is not a matter of introducing new legislation but of enforcing existing regulations. That will be the focus of the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Kelly.
What are the legislative arrangements for the implementation of the provisions of the jobs initiative announced last week? Will legislation other than the Finance (No. 2) Bill be required? When is it expected to deal with the Finance (No. 2) Bill?
This was cleared by the Cabinet this morning. The minimum wage will be dealt with by the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Finance will deal with the jobs initiative in the next two to three weeks.
To return to the taxi industry, there is little point in the Taoiseach expressing dismay with the industry and the fact that it is on its knees if he does not understand that new legislation is required. It is not a matter of enforcing current regulations but of re-regulating the industry on a number of fronts, including the vetting of drivers which was raised by another Deputy.
I understand the Minister is conducting a review. I believe this review will reflect clearly that the current regulatory regime——
This is not Question Time.
——has failed. On foot of the review, is the Government prepared to countenance new legislation?
We are talking about legislation that is being promised. This is what the Order of Business is about. Has legislation been promised in this area?
No, but there is a section of the Act that allows for people to be banned from driving. That has not been implemented yet. If legislation is to be produced arising from the Minister's examination of this, then he will not shirk his responsibility. However, we need an accurate factual analysis of where this has gone wrong and where enforcement needs to be tightened up. If new legislation is required for this, then so be it.
Is the Taoiseach aware that the nursing home support scheme has been suspended by the HSE? Applicants are now being informed——
Is this a question on promised legislation?
I am trying to ascertain whether he intends to amend or abolish the nursing home support scheme in view of the fact——
That is a parliamentary question.
——that there is no finance available.
It is in the programme for Government.
Is the abolition of the scheme in the programme for Government?
No, I am talking about funding of the scheme. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to improve the nursing home support scheme, but this week applicants have been informed by the HSE that while their application will be accepted, there is no funding available this year for any further funding of the scheme.
That is not promised legislation. The Deputy should table a parliamentary question.
When does the Taoiseach and his Government intend to bring forward an amendment to suspend the Bill, or do they intend to live up to the commitments made in the programme for Government?
Is there promised legislation here?
No.
There is no funding either.
A Deputy
Thanks to the Deputy's crowd.
There was €1 billion.
It was a commitment in the programme for Government.
It can be raised in Private Members' time, or through parliamentary questions. There are many ways you can raise this and still be in order, and I will be delighted to facilitate you. You have been long enough around here to know that.
I am just trying to clarify whether the Government intends to live up to the commitments in the programme for Government, and whether legislation is required to suspend the scheme.
Can we have some order? I call on Deputy McConalogue.
The first 100 days and the Government is attacking old people.
When does the Taoiseach expect the Government to introduce legislation, promised in the programme for Government, to set up the new child welfare and protection agency? When can we expect to see the Cloyne report published? Is it the Taoiseach's intention to stick——
You were doing very well until you got to the second question. That is out of order.
——by his party's previous commitment to extend the Murphy commission to all Catholic dioceses?
The Government is absolutely committed to the programme for Government over its period of office. The primary focus is on giving legislative and constitutional authority to the new Minister with responsibility for children and youth affairs, which is a signal of the importance we associate with children as being fundamental to our future.
What about legislation on the agency?
The Cloyne report cannot be published yet due to legal difficulties. The Minister for Justice and Equality will report to the House on this issue in due course.