On the Order of Business, we join with the good wishes for a speedy recovery to Deputy Ferris in South Africa.
The matter of South Africa was raised yesterday. It was proposed to debate it as soon as possible, particularly to learn from the experiences of our colleagues who had the honour of helping with the election there. If this is to be of value, it should be done soon. I formally suggest that it is debated.
I also raise the matter of the defamation Bill. Unusually, it was published by the National Newspapers Association of Ireland this week and presented to the Taoiseach. We had a debate on this some time ago and the Minister, Deputy Taylor, said at that stage that, while he felt the subject was worthy of consideration, it was very far down the list of his priorities and his Department was not in a position to publish a Bill on the matter.
The National Newspapers Association has gone to the trouble of having a Bill published by Mr. Marcus Burke, a former parliamentary draftsman. It would be highly unusual for a Bill published by an outside group to be taken as a Bill either by the Government or the Opposition as their own Bill. I would certainly not propose that, but since the NNAI has gone to the trouble and expense of having a Bill prepared on a matter which is certainly of interest to all Members and is of public importance, I would ask the Leader if we could provide two hours over the coming weeks to debate the main issues in this Bill and to see if there is some way, if the House thought it proper, that this matter could be progressed further. It is unusual to have a Bill published by an outside group and I am not sure what procedure we would follow. Perhaps we could have a debate to discuss the issues in the Bill and if it is thought appropriate we could take it further.