It is proposed to take No. 18, statements on European Council, Brussels, pursuant to Standing Order 102A (2)(b); and No.19, statements on the Garda Inspectorate report on the fixed charge processing system. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that the Dáil shall sit later than 9 p.m. and shall adjourn on the conclusion of Private Members’ business which shall be No. 47, Restorative Justice (Reparation of Victims) Bill 2013 – Second Stage (Resumed), and shall be taken on the conclusion of No. 19 notwithstanding the Order of the Dáil of yesterday, and shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 90 minutes; No. 18 shall be taken immediately following the Order of Business and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 85 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: the statements shall be made by the Taoiseach and by the main spokespersons for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order and who may share their time, and shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case, a Minister or Minister of State shall take questions for a period not exceeding 20 minutes and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed five minutes; the suspension of sitting under Standing Order 23(1) shall take place on the conclusion of No. 18; the proceedings in relation to No. 19 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 9.30 p.m. and the following arrangements shall apply: the statement of a Minister or Minister of State and of the main spokespersons for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order, shall not exceed 30 minutes in each case and such Members may share their time, the statement of each other Member called upon shall not exceed ten minutes in each case and such Members may share their time, a Minister or Minister of State shall take questions for a period not exceeding one hour, and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed 15 minutes; tomorrow, there shall be no Order of Business within the meaning of Standing Order 26, Leaders' Questions or Topical Issues and the Dáil shall adjourn on the conclusion of Oral Questions and resume at 10 a.m. on Friday, 28 March 2014 when the following business shall be transacted: No. 48, Seanad Reform Bill 2014 - Second Stage and No. 6, report on the contribution of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to economic recovery.
Order of Business
There are four proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for the late sitting agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 18, statements on European Council, Brussels, pursuant to Standing Order 102A (2)(b), agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 19, statements on the Garda Inspectorate report on the fixed charge processing system agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with the business and adjournment of the Dáil tomorrow and the sitting and business of the Dáil on Friday, 28 March 2014 agreed to? Agreed.
In the interests of full transparency, will the Taoiseach be in a position to confirm to the House the status and identity of the civil servant who went to the Garda Commissioner on Monday evening?
It was the Secretary General.
Was it the Secretary General of the Taoiseach's Department?
No. The Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality.
I thank the Taoiseach. In regard to this morning's business, the Minister gave a 15 minute statement on that issue but, unfortunately, questions were not provided for in terms of the Standing Orders. It is a great pity there were not questions on that specific issue because, despite Leaders' Questions and two attempts to extract from the Taoiseach why the Attorney General did not see fit over the past number of months to go to the Minister for Justice and Equality-----
We cannot go over all this again.
-----on this issue, he did not answer that question this morning. I asked the Taoiseach if it was not very odd that-----
She had to get all her facts.
She had the facts for four months on the specific case. We know that from the Minister for Justice and Equality.
We are not going into that again on the Order of Business.
Not the scale of it. I said that to Deputy Martin.
I asked a question, which the Taoiseach did not answer, and Deputy Donnelly asked a question, which he did not answer either. There was a very prolonged period of time-----
You cannot ask it on the Order of Business.
-----during which the Attorney did not, in any shape or form, brief the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Taoiseach confirmed that he rang the Attorney General on Sunday.
We have had the discussion-----
The Attorney General was not of a mind last Sunday, by the way, to raise the issue. If we had had questions with the Minister, we could have got an answer to that question.
That is gone. We had questions-----
It was not on that issue that I rang the Attorney General.
Exactly. That is the point. It was not on that.
Taoiseach, please do not encourage him.
That is not why the Taoiseach rang the Attorney General and she was not going to ring him either. I got a different impression from the briefing yesterday.
Deputy, I have to ask you to resume your seat. This is the Order of Business.
We need more time on this issue. That is the point. I ask the Government to provide more time for questions on that specific issue. The Taoiseach mentioned to myself and Deputy Adams yesterday that a senior counsel was approached about this, I think, on Monday. Is there a written report from that senior counsel?
Sorry, that is a matter for-----
If so, could that be made available to us?
I call on the Taoiseach to reply to matters that are in order on the Order of Business. Please adhere to the rules. If Members do not like them, they should change them.
The reason that more time has not been allocated to this is that we are not in possession of all the facts, as I outlined to Deputy Martin. As this information becomes available, of course, we will return to the matter. It will be debated fully here, with as many questions as Members wish to ask. However, one has to be in a position to give answers to questions. I thought it sufficiently important because of the scale of what might be potentially involved here to bring it to the notice of the Cabinet and the House in the way that it has been done.
You cannot go back over that again.
We are drafting the terms of reference for a committee of investigation which can be debated here as well as further issues arising from this. This will not be the last time we will turn to this.
I have two issues faoi reachtaíocht atá fógartha but before I come to them, I would like to say the Government needs to have a proper debate on all these issues. The way we are doing business is not good enough but coming back to the Order of Business, I would like to ask the Taoiseach about the health reform Bill and the Constitutional Convention.
The Government set a timeframe of four months for it to respond to recommendations from the convention. In February, in response to a question from me, the Taoiseach accepted that he had not responded to the convention's fourth report on Dáil electoral reform, which was published in August of last year. Today is the deadline for the Government's response to another set of recommendations on the extension of voting rights for Presidential elections.
Will the Government be responding today and when can we expect a response to the earlier report from August last? The health reform Bill is about future heath care and the disestablishment of the HSE. The Taoiseach was contacted recently by members of the family of Pádraig Schäler, who are really concerned at the enormous bills-----
Sorry, but I cannot allow Deputy Adams to continue in that vein.
It is about the Bill.
Yes, but we cannot discuss the Bill. This slot is about when the Bill will be published and so forth.
Sorry. I will just ask a general question, if that is okay. The Department of Health was supposed to speak to the family without delay but they are still waiting. I do not know if this is appropriate, but-----
It is not.
-----will the health reform Bill deal with the need for neurological facilities in the health service? Will the Taoiseach instruct the Minister for Health and his Department to talk to the Schäler family? When will the health reform Bill be published?
That can be dealt with by way of correspondence or parliamentary question.
It will be published this session. I will bring the other matter that Deputy Adams raised to the attention of the Minister for Health but I assure him that the Bill will be before the House shortly.
What of my question regarding the Constitutional Convention?
We did not meet the deadline on the last occasion. The chairman of the convention is about to present his final report and make recommendations. I would like to have that report before making any commitments. I realise that we did not measure up in terms of allowing time for discussion on the last report but we will make sufficient time for the two reports to be discussed. However, I would like to have the chairman's final recommendations first, and I believe they are being prepared now. When the report is finalised, we will have an opportunity to discuss the matter in the House.
Tonnage for fishermen is unfairly divided, in that fishermen in tier two should have 50% of the tonnage of those in tier one-----
Hold on, Deputy. We had agriculture and fisheries questions this morning.
I am asking this in the context of the inland fisheries (modernisation and consolidation) Bill.
When is the inland fisheries (modernisation and consolidation) Bill due?
I do not have information on tier two.
When is the inland fisheries (modernisation and consolidation) Bill due?
I have no date for the publication of that Bill.
There is no date for the publication of that legislation.
The bait is still out.
I will not do any fishing.
Good.
In the context of the Children First Bill, five Supreme Court judges found that the Government had misappropriated money for the referendum-----
Hold on a second, Deputy McGrath. No.
We have an independent Referendum Commission. There was no debate in this Parliament on the issue. Will the Taoiseach include that misappropriation and misbehaviour in the terms of reference of the commission of inquiry he has set up to investigate lots of wrongdoing?
That issue is before the courts, as Deputy McGrath is well aware.
The issue is before the courts.
It has never been dealt with.
It is before the courts.
Will the heads of the official languages (amendment) Bill be published before Easter? Will the consumer protection and competition Bill be published before Easter? The latter Bill has been on the cards, as an A-list Bill, since autumn 2012 and is very urgently needed.
The consumer protection and competition Bill was cleared at Cabinet yesterday.
I am glad to hear that.
It is due to come to the House for Committee Stage debate shortly. The official languages (amendment) Bill is listed for this session but the heads have not come to Government yet. I understand that the Aire Gaeltachta is working very hard on them. I will advise Deputy Ó Cuív as to the current state of preparation.
Can the Taoiseach update the House on the position of the human tissue Bill, which deals with the recommendations of the Madden report on post mortems in hospital? I also ask the Taoiseach to update us on the status of the juries Bill, which deals with a report from the Law Reform Commission.
There is no date for publication of either of the Bills mentioned by Deputy Flanagan but I will let the Deputy know what the calendar is like up ahead in that regard.
When can we expect the publication of the Teaching Council (vetting and protection of children and vulnerable persons) Bill, which aims to put in place a statutory provision underpinning the role of the Teaching Council in the vetting arrangements for registered teachers?
That is due this session. The Deputy picked a winner this time.
Bingo.
I ask the Taoiseach to indicate the current projections regarding the health information Bill, the EirGrid Bill and the adoption (tracing and information) Bill. Have the aforementioned Bills been approved by Cabinet and when are they likely to come before the House?
The adoption (tracing and information) Bill is due later this year, the EirGrid Bill will come before the House next year and I do not have a date for the publication of the health information Bill. I will advise Deputy Durkan in respect of the latter.
Group water schemes were left in a legal limbo following the enactment of the legislation establishing Irish Water. Promises were made that the issue would be dealt with. When will legislation be introduced amending the Irish Water legislation to cater for group water schemes?
A water safety Bill is scheduled for later this year but I am not sure whether it is the appropriate vehicle for dealing with the matter raised by Deputy McNamara. I will ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to contact him directly to let him know the position in that regard.
Is it still the Government's intention that the Taoiseach and the Minister of State with responsibility for housing will make a statement regarding a social housing construction programme for this year? Regarding the Taoiseach's earlier comments to the House, he gave a very precise-----
We are not going back over that now.
I just wanted to ask the Taoiseach-----
-----something that everyone is thinking. The Taoiseach gave a very precise figure on-----
The Deputy had better keep thinking, because this is not a matter for the Order of Business.
-----the number of tapes in existence in Garda stations. Does the Taoiseach know how many hours of recordings are involved?
No, no, no.
Does the Taoiseach have any information about that?
The Deputy had better table a parliamentary question on the matter.
I do not know if Deputy Broughan contributed to the commencement of the debate on housing and construction, but he will have an opportunity to do so because the issue will be discussed again next week. I do not know the answer to the Deputy's second question. That is why we have set up a commission.
The climate change Bill seems to have been delayed and is now awaiting Cabinet approval. The expert advisory group on climate change should have been appointed several weeks ago. I ask the Taoiseach to update the House on the status of both the legislation and the expert group.
The revised heads of the Bill will be presented to Cabinet before Easter. I will find out about the expert advisory group. Incidentally, climate change was the subject of some serious discussion at the recent European Council meeting, in the context of energy in particular.
That concludes the Order of Business for today. We will now move on to statements on the recent European Council meeting, pursuant to Standing Order 102A. I will be calling on the Taoiseach to make a statement under Standing Order 43.