It is proposed to take Report Stage of the Marine Institute Bill, and Second Stage of the Child Care Bill. It is proposed to have a sos between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and to conclude business at 4 p.m.
Order of Business.
Can the Leader of the House indicate when he proposes to take items Nos. 1, 2 and 5?
May I ask when item No. 7, the Environmental Protection Agency Bill, will be taken and also if there are Government amendments? If there are Government amendments, when will we have the honour of seeing them?
May I ask the Leader of the House how long he thinks the debate on the Marine Institute Bill will take, and, secondly, will he make time available for a debate on the state of the roads? Will he treat this as a matter of urgency, because public representatives are now being inundated with representations in relation to the state of county roads?
You got the grant yesterday.
I am asking the Leader of the House if he would treat this as a matter of urgency because of the present state of the roads in rural Ireland and because potholes have become a national issue.
There is no necessity to labour the case.
May I ask the Leader of the House if he would be prepared to make time available for a debate on housing, and if he will also treat this as a matter of urgency because we have now got 20,000 people on the housing list.
There is no necessity to go into any justification of the question.
We are looking into the potholes.
I want to conclude that question and to ask the Leader if he will treat the debate on housing as a matter of urgency, because some people have not got bathrooms in their local authority houses.
You have done well. You are in timely preparation for June.
I would like again to ask the Leader of the House a question posed to him yesterday by Senator Manning and myself, and by some of us a fortnight ago, when we sought a debate in this House on Northern Ireland. We can take time to discuss the Gulf, the Middle East, the Palestine question and all these other issues but this part of our island is an extremely pertinent, festering issue at present. There is some urgency about arranging that a debate on the subject shall take place in this House. I urge the Leader to arrange that this will happen.
I would like to ask the Leader of the House if he will join me in my concern at the expressions of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Connell, when he stated that as a result of the debate in this House——
Shame, shame.
This is not a matter for the Order of Business. I cannot allow questions that are not relevant to the Order of Business. My advice to the Senator is that if he feels strongly about it, he should take it up in another way.
I will take your advice. I will take it up in another way.
Ring the Archbishop.
I would like to ask the Leader of the House, in the light of the general concern in the House about the aftermath of the Gulf War — there are items on the Order Paper relating to this — whether a debate will be provided. Many people are concerned that Mr. Ali Hassan al-Majid is being appointed interior Minister in Iraq. He is a cousin of Saddam Hussein and is the man who was responsible for the bombing of the Halabja community. I would like to ask the Leader if there will be a means to express concern — because journalists are currently being excluded from Iraq — and to deal with the question of the ill-treatment of Palestinians in Kuwait.
Senator Norris, you have put your question.
My question is whether in the light of these things and the concern for human rights expressed during the debate, if there will be a debate on the aftermath of the war?
Thank you.
In regard to the queries about items Nos. 1, 2 and 5 raised by Senator Manning, items Nos. 1 and 2 relate to Private Business. I have indicated to the parliamentary agent that I cannot take item No. 2 before Easter. That is still the position. Senator Manning has shown an interest in item No. 5 — the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) (Amendment) Bill — for the last number of weeks and I am pleased to say that will be taken on Thursday of next week.
Senator B. Ryan asked about the Environmental Protection Agency Bill. There will be Government amendments. That has been confirmed. It is expected to be taken during the week of 18 March. The amendments will be circulated in time. It will not be on next week.
I can not say how long the Marine Institute Bill will take. I do not think it will take too long, perhaps an hour or less. The other matters raised by Senator Upton are not appropriate to the Order of Business. In regard to Senator Staunton's point, as I indicated yesterday I have no plan for a debate on Northern Ireland.
Senator Norris asked for a debate on the aftermath of the Gulf War. We have done very well with debates on the Gulf War. We have had two debates. The other House had only one. I have no plans at this point for a further debate on the Gulf War or the aftermath of the Gulf War.
Order of Business agreed to.