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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 26 Nov 2015

Vol. 898 No. 2

Order of Business

It is proposed to take No. 15, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the report by the Minister for Defence regarding service by the Defence Forces with the United Nations in 2014 (back from committee); No. 16, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2015 (back from committee); No. 16a, motion re leave to introduce Supplementary Estimates [Votes 30 and 37]; No. 16b, motion re referral of Supplementary Estimates [Votes 30 and 37] to select committee or sub-committee; No. 17, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of terms of economic partnership agreement between CARIFORUM states and the EC and its member states (back from committee); No. 18, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of terms of economic partnership agreement between the west African states, ECOEAS and UEMOA and the EU and its member states (back from committee); No. 19, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015 (back from committee); No. 44, Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill 2015 - Second Stage (resumed); No. 45, Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2015 - Second Stage (resumed); and No. 8, Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Second Stage.

It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that the Dáil shall sit later than 5.30 p.m. today and shall adjourn on the conclusion of Topical Issues, which shall take place on the conclusion of No. 8; Nos. 15, 16 and 16a shall be decided without debate, and subject to the agreement of No. 16a, No. 16b (referral to select committees), shall be decided without debate and any divisions demanded thereon shall be taken forthwith; Nos. 17 and 18 shall be debated together and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 20 minutes, whereupon the separate questions shall be put from the Chair, and the following arrangements shall apply: the speech 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 and who may share their time, shall not exceed five minutes in each case; the proceedings on No. 19 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 20 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: the speech 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 and who may share their time, shall not exceed five minutes in each case; the proceedings on the resumed Second Stage of No. 44 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 4 p.m. today; the proceedings on the resumed Second Stage of No. 45 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 5.30 p.m. today; the proceedings on No. 8 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 7.35 p.m. today; and Topical Issues shall be taken immediately thereafter.

Tomorrow’s Friday fortnightly business shall be No. 81, Protection of the Environment (Criminal Activity) Bill 2015; and No. 20, report on the regulation and inspection of gas installers operating in Ireland.

There are seven proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with the late sitting agreed?

We object to the Order of Business. This Government promised to end the use of guillotines but we have a flurry of guillotines in today's order. Our Whip objected to this at the Whips' meeting last evening. Many of these issues do not need a guillotine and we can debate them appropriately, like adults. For example, yesterday the Finance Bill went through its Remaining Stages in the House and there was to be a guillotine. That was discussed and it was agreed there was no need for a guillotine. It went through slightly after the time at which the guillotine was meant to take effect. There is no need for this approach and we have little enough accountability in this House as it is. Some of these issues warrant more time but others might not, so the time afforded will be adequate. The matters should be dealt with by agreement rather than by ramming through a series of guillotines in a manner which the Government promised would never happen.

It is obvious not just coming into Christmas but coming into the election season that there is a furious pace in ramming through as much legislation as possible. We have no objection to late sittings - far from it - but it is, of course, always better to have more notice than was given in this instance. There is a problem with affording 20-minute slots for debates in the Dáil, as these are clearly inadequate. I agree entirely with Deputy McGrath that there is no need for so many guillotines. It definitely goes against the grain of what was promised by this Government by way of "democratic revolution", etc. I will raise those points at this stage rather than repeating them as we get to each guillotined matter.

I was going to say to Deputies McGrath and McDonald that both of them are referring to proposals Nos. 5, 6 and 7.

Question, "That the proposal for the late sitting be agreed to", put and declared carried.

Is the proposal for dealing with No. 15, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the report by the Minister for Defence regarding service by the Defence Forces with the United Nations in 2014, No. 16, motion re the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2015, and Nos. 16a and 16b, motions re leave to introduce and referral of Supplementary Estimates without debate, agreed to? Agreed.

Is the proposal for dealing with No. 17, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the terms of the economic partnership agreement between CARIFORUM states and the EC and its member states, and No. 18, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the terms of the economic partnership agreement between the west African states, ECOEAS and UEMOA and the EU and its member states, agreed to?

To reiterate, while it is welcome that there is debate on these matters, 20 minutes is inadequate for agreements such as these. They should be properly scrutinised. It is almost cynical to allow a tokenistic slot of time to tick a box in order that there is some debate, but then to guillotine it after 20 short minutes. We object on that basis.

Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with Nos. 17 and 18 be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 58; Níl, 35.

  • Breen, Pat.
  • Burton, Joan.
  • Butler, Ray.
  • Buttimer, Jerry.
  • Byrne, Catherine.
  • Byrne, Eric.
  • Cannon, Ciarán.
  • Carey, Joe.
  • Coffey, Paudie.
  • Conaghan, Michael.
  • Connaughton, Paul J.
  • Conway, Ciara.
  • Coonan, Noel.
  • Costello, Joe.
  • Creed, Michael.
  • Deasy, John.
  • Deenihan, Jimmy.
  • Deering, Pat.
  • Doherty, Regina.
  • Dowds, Robert.
  • Durkan, Bernard J.
  • Farrell, Alan.
  • Ferris, Anne.
  • Fitzgerald, Frances.
  • Fitzpatrick, Peter.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Hannigan, Dominic.
  • Harrington, Noel.
  • Harris, Simon.
  • Heydon, Martin.
  • Humphreys, Kevin.
  • Kenny, Seán.
  • Kyne, Seán.
  • Lynch, Ciarán.
  • Lynch, Kathleen.
  • Lyons, John.
  • McEntee, Helen.
  • McFadden, Gabrielle.
  • McGinley, Dinny.
  • McLoughlin, Tony.
  • McNamara, Michael.
  • Mulherin, Michelle.
  • Nash, Gerald.
  • Neville, Dan.
  • Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
  • O'Donnell, Kieran.
  • O'Mahony, John.
  • Penrose, Willie.
  • Quinn, Ruairí.
  • Rabbitte, Pat.
  • Ring, Michael.
  • Ryan, Brendan.
  • Shatter, Alan.
  • Spring, Arthur.
  • Stagg, Emmet.
  • Stanton, David.
  • Varadkar, Leo.
  • Wall, Jack.

Níl

  • Broughan, Thomas P.
  • Calleary, Dara.
  • Collins, Joan.
  • Colreavy, Michael.
  • Coppinger, Ruth.
  • Cowen, Barry.
  • Creighton, Lucinda.
  • Crowe, Seán.
  • Daly, Clare.
  • Doherty, Pearse.
  • Donnelly, Stephen S.
  • Dooley, Timmy.
  • Ellis, Dessie.
  • Fleming, Tom.
  • Healy, Seamus.
  • Kelleher, Billy.
  • Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
  • McDonald, Mary Lou.
  • McGrath, Finian.
  • McGrath, Mattie.
  • McGrath, Michael.
  • McLellan, Sandra.
  • Mathews, Peter.
  • Murphy, Catherine.
  • Murphy, Paul.
  • Naughten, Denis.
  • Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
  • Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
  • O'Brien, Jonathan.
  • O'Sullivan, Maureen.
  • Shortall, Róisín.
  • Timmins, Billy.
  • Tóibín, Peadar.
  • Troy, Robert.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Emmet Stagg and Joe Carey; Níl, Deputies Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Pearse Doherty.
Question declared carried.

Is the proposal for dealing with No. 19, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015, agreed to?

I do not agree with this proposal. This is a proposal to discuss emergency measures in relation to housing, such as the modular housing proposal which is extremely controversial, in five minutes in the Dáil. That is effectively what is being proposed. We have already seen that the Government does not consider that we have a housing emergency but it is incredible to come to the Dáil with such a serious proposal and expect us to debate it within five minutes.

It was in committee.

We have already heard - it is coming out of local authority chambers - that these modular or prefabricated buildings, whatever one wants to call them, will probably cost more than actual houses and the Tánaiste expects to debate it in Dáil Éireann in five minutes. This is adding insult to injury to the thousands of homeless people or people on a housing list who are out there waiting for serious measures to be taken. I propose that we reject this and that we extend that debate.

Does the Deputy want us to leave them on the street?

This is only leaders of groups now.

My party objects to the guillotining of this in 20 minutes. Twenty minutes is a ridiculously short timeframe to debate an important issue. We support the taking of action to deal with this issue but 20 minutes is an insult, with no opportunity for Opposition spokespersons and Deputies to put questions to the Minister.

We need more democracy.

For example, can we have an assurance that the Attorney General has given the legal approval to this in the sense that temporary accommodation, which is undefined in terms of the duration, is fully legally proofed? These are important questions. We do not want this initiative to blow up in the Government's face. It needs to be dealt with in a mature and responsible way and we need to debate legitimate issues relating to this in this House. There is no need for a 20 minute guillotine. It is ridiculous.

I want to raise my party's objections also. I stated on the previous matters that 20 minutes was woefully inadequate. This, equally, is the case here. Twenty minutes is derisory. It does not give the scope for what could properly be called a debate, and on an issue with such urgency and importance for so many at this time, I am at a loss as to why Government would insist on such a short time span.

As Deputies will probably be aware, this was debated at length in the committee.

In response to Deputy Coppinger, the reason the modular housing construction is expensive is because it has such high standards of insulation construction.

(Interruptions).

I am sorry, Deputy Coppinger may not have bothered to go down and see them.

They are available to see.

(Interruptions).

The reason they are expensive-----

Did the Attorney General see them?

Did Deputy Cowen go and see them?

-----is because they are of a very high standard, and a much higher standard of insulation than a lot of traditional build houses.

Pay more for temporary than permanent.

I am now putting the question.

They cost €191,000 each.

These are modular housing.

They cost €191,000 in Ballymun.

Deputy Ellis, please.

Some 22 cost €4.2 million. Is the Government living in another world or something?

Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with No. 19 be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 56; Níl, 35.

  • Breen, Pat.
  • Burton, Joan.
  • Butler, Ray.
  • Buttimer, Jerry.
  • Byrne, Catherine.
  • Byrne, Eric.
  • Carey, Joe.
  • Coffey, Paudie.
  • Conaghan, Michael.
  • Connaughton, Paul J.
  • Conway, Ciara.
  • Costello, Joe.
  • Creed, Michael.
  • Deasy, John.
  • Deenihan, Jimmy.
  • Deering, Pat.
  • Doherty, Regina.
  • Dowds, Robert.
  • Durkan, Bernard J.
  • Farrell, Alan.
  • Ferris, Anne.
  • Fitzpatrick, Peter.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Hannigan, Dominic.
  • Harrington, Noel.
  • Harris, Simon.
  • Heydon, Martin.
  • Humphreys, Kevin.
  • Kenny, Seán.
  • Kyne, Seán.
  • Lynch, Ciarán.
  • Lynch, Kathleen.
  • Lyons, John.
  • McEntee, Helen.
  • McFadden, Gabrielle.
  • McGinley, Dinny.
  • McLoughlin, Tony.
  • McNamara, Michael.
  • Mulherin, Michelle.
  • Nash, Gerald.
  • Neville, Dan.
  • Nolan, Derek.
  • O'Donnell, Kieran.
  • O'Mahony, John.
  • O'Reilly, Joe.
  • Penrose, Willie.
  • Quinn, Ruairí.
  • Rabbitte, Pat.
  • Ring, Michael.
  • Ryan, Brendan.
  • Shatter, Alan.
  • Spring, Arthur.
  • Stagg, Emmet.
  • Stanton, David.
  • Varadkar, Leo.
  • Wall, Jack.

Níl

  • Broughan, Thomas P.
  • Calleary, Dara.
  • Collins, Joan.
  • Colreavy, Michael.
  • Coppinger, Ruth.
  • Cowen, Barry.
  • Creighton, Lucinda.
  • Crowe, Seán.
  • Daly, Clare.
  • Doherty, Pearse.
  • Donnelly, Stephen S.
  • Dooley, Timmy.
  • Ellis, Dessie.
  • Fleming, Tom.
  • Healy, Seamus.
  • Kelleher, Billy.
  • Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
  • McDonald, Mary Lou.
  • McGrath, Finian.
  • McGrath, Mattie.
  • McGrath, Michael.
  • McLellan, Sandra.
  • Mathews, Peter.
  • Murphy, Catherine.
  • Murphy, Paul.
  • Naughten, Denis.
  • Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
  • Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
  • O'Brien, Jonathan.
  • O'Sullivan, Maureen.
  • Shortall, Róisín.
  • Timmins, Billy.
  • Tóibín, Peadar.
  • Troy, Robert.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Emmet Stagg and Joe Carey; Níl, Deputies Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
Question declared carried.

Is the proposal for dealing with No. 5 to 7, inclusive, without debate agreed to? Agreed.

Barr
Roinn