Before we proceed with the business on the Agenda I must take the House into my confidence with regard to the existing state of business and the nature of the business yet to be discharged in this House. Necessity has arisen owing to the fact of a statement made by the President in the other House to the effect that six Bills at present in the other House would, the President hoped and expected, be got through all their stages by Friday next. It is a rather sanguine estimate, I think, but, however, he is a better judge of that than I am. He, at the same time, wrote to me officially saying that it would be necessary for him, if the Dáil were to rise on Friday next, to be in a position to give some approximate date as to when they would be called back to receive the business which, in the meantime, has passed through this House. In reply to that communication I have sent a letter to the President in the following terms:—
"I have carefully considered the minute dated the 25th instant, sent to the Clerk of the Seanad by the Secretary to the Executive Council in regard to the legislation which the Government are desirous of having completed before the recess; but, in view of the number of Bills which are now, towards the end of the session, being sent to the Seanad, Bills which, in some cases, have been for no inconsiderable time before the other House and which, in some cases, are certain to be regarded as contentious, I find it impossible to give any indication of the length of time which will elapse before the Seanad will have completed its deliberations on them. Five Bills have reached the Seanad within the last week and I understand from the minute that we may expect to receive six more before Friday next. When the Committee Stage of these Bills is reached and we see how many amendments are tabled to them I shall be in a better position to send you a satisfactory reply."
The state of business is as follows: We have, as you see from that letter, seven Bills at present under consideration. There is the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Bill; that was introduced in the other House on the 7th May and was not passed until the 22nd June. Then there are the Local Government (Collection of Rates) Bill, the Housing Bill, the Court Officers Bill, the University Education Bill, the Road Fund (Advances) Bill and the Juries (Dublin) Bill. Those are the seven at present passing through their various stages in this House, but in addition to these seven it is contemplated to send forward in the course of this week six further Bills: the Finance Bill, which is, of course, a Bill of considerable importance though a Money Bill, the Betting Bill, the Tariff Commission Bill, the Trade Loans (Guarantee) Bill, the Local Authorities (Mutual Assurance) Bill and the Appropriation Bill. In addition to these it is the intention, I believe, of the Minister for Justice, once the Court Officers Bill has been passed through both Houses, to tabulate new rules of procedure and practice which, under the Statute, are required to be approved of by both Houses. We have not received these yet. They have not been tabled. The Minister apparently thinks he is not entitled to table them until the Court Officers Bill has been passed into law. That is a matter for his own view. I myself cannot see the necessity for holding them up until then. It is quite true that we cannot pass rules of procedure and practice until we have passed the Court Officers Bill because rules of procedure and practice provide for the duties of at least one new official and, consequently, a Bill authorising the payment of that official has got to be passed before we pass rules of procedure and practice relative to this officer and the other officers. In my opinion there was nothing to prevent the two running concurrently so long as the Court Officers Bill passed into law at least a day before the other. The whole legal position would be met if the Court Officers Bill were passed to-day and we passed the rules the following day. However, that is a matter for the Minister in charge of the Bill.
What I want to call your attention to is this: Of the Bills I mention that are still before us, that have reached up and are at present going through this House there are three, I think, not contentions. One is the Local Government (Collection of Rates) Bill. Another is the Juries (Dublin) Bill and the Road Fund (Advances) Bill. So far as I know, these three Bills were not regarded as contentious in the other House and I do not know whether there is any intention to treat them otherwise in this House. If there were no Senator anxious to put down amendments to these three Bills I should ask the Seanad to take the Committee Stage of these three Bills to-morrow. If any Senator contemplates putting down amendments to any of these three Bills, then it would not be convenient or proper to ask that they should be rushed to-morrow. With regard to the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Bill, the Housing Bill, and the University Education Bill, they are to a certain degree contentious and I know there are Senators who intend and desire to put down amendments to them. Therefore, I think it would not be reasonable to take the Committee Stage of these to-morrow. I think we ought to give an opportunity to the House to consider what amendments they would table and when they have tabled them to give them time to consider them.
That leaves us in the position that we cannot expect reasonably to finish even the Bills before us already this week. We will dispose of one or two of them, I think. Probably we will be able to dispose of about three out of the six, but I think the concluding stages of three of the Bills will have to be carried out next week. Therefore, for next week, there would not be merely the concluding stages of three more or less contentious Bills, but also new Bills, including the Finance Bill, which we will receive for the first time next week. None of those will reach us this week. They will only be introduced to-day or to-morrow, and cannot reach us by any possibility this week. Therefore, next week we will have the concluding stages of these three Bills, and the consideration and passing of the new Bills. I am not in a position myself to give any indication to the Minister as to when we are likely to conclude our labours. I think it is in the interests of the Deputies that they should have some reasonable information as to when they will be called back for the purpose of receiving those Bills from our hands. I cannot help them in that, and it will be for the House to say how far they will be able to give any promise in the matter. I have, with the assistance of the Clerk, sketched out a time-table for next week, which would involve our meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I have sketched out an agenda for each of those days, but I can tell the House it will mean hard work if they are to put all this mass of legislation through this week.
I have only to say that I express my regret that the Executive Council has not seen its way to introduce some of those Bills into this House. I see no reason why some of those Bills should not have been introduced into this House weeks ago, and by this they would have been passed into law. I have thrown out that suggestion already to the Executive Council, but evidently this House has been divorced, so far as the Government is concerned, from the initiation of Government Bills. That, of course, may be their policy. I think, myself, it would be more in the interests of, certainly the efficiency of, this House, and also the dispatch of public business, if many of those not very contentious Bills were originated and passed in their first stages here. I have nothing more to say in that matter. I do not know whether the House considers itself in a position to consider this matter now. Perhaps they might think it over amongst themselves, and we might agree on some approximate date to-morrow. I wish to mention in regard to the Finance Bill that, of course, as the House knows, it being a Money Bill, it is not within the power of this House to amend it, but they have the most ample power of making and passing recommendations, and it is the one opportunity they get for the purpose of discussing questions of finance in regard to various public departments in which any particular Senator may be interested. If there is any particular Vote in connection with any Department affected by the Finance Bill upon which any Senator would like to speak, I would be very glad if he would intimate to the Clerk of the Seanad, before Monday next if possible, what the particular Vote or what the particular Department may be, that he wishes to discuss or to criticise. That will enable me to give information to the Minister of the particular Department concerned, who may be anxious to be present in the Seanad when the matter is being discussed.
