Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Special Committee Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 1983 díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 13 Dec 1983

Election of Chairman

Acting Chairman (Clerk to the Committee)

The first item is the election of Chairman. At the last meeting we had two motions before us for nomination of Chairman. Deputy Molloy was proposed by Deputy Brady and seconded by Deputy Wallace, and Deputy Glenn was proposed by Deputy Cosgrave and seconded by Deputy Quinn, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment.

I propose that both motions be withdrawn.

Motions by leave, withdrawn.

I propose Deputy Molloy as Chairman.

I second that.

Question put and agreed to.
Mr. Molloy took the chair.

Chairman

Before we proceed with the agenda I should like to thank the committee for expressing its confidence in me in selecting me as chairman. I thank you very much indeed for that honour. I hope we will be able to deal with the business before the meeting as expeditiously as possible and hopefully to everybody's satisfaction.

Are we on item 2?

Chairman

Item 1 has been disposed of. Item 2 is procedure generally. Before we go on I think it would be appropriate if we offered our congratulations to Deputy Quinn, Minister of State, on his promotion to the Cabinet and wish him success. I hate to see him leaving the environmental arena where he was making a very valuable contribution.

We will now proceed to item No. 2 — procedure generally. Before doing so, however, I want to know if this meeting is to be held in public session with the press present — I understand there is a representative of the press in the room — or whether the meeting should proceed in private. That is a matter which can be decided by the committee itself, and I suggest that that would be an appropriate matter to consider at this stage. I do not know what the views of the committee are, whether you have given consideration to it.

I propose that the press should be present.

Chairman

Is anyone opposing that? No. Then it is agreed.

May I read this note which has been given to me by the Clerk regarding procedure. Standing Orders provide that rules as to procedure in the Dáil shall apply to procedure in Special Committees except that as in Committee of the whole Dáil a member may speak more than once on the same subject. Divisions shall be taken by the Clerk to the Committee calling the names of the members. In the event of there being equality of votes questions shall be decided in the negative. The Chairman shall have only one vote. As explained we will proceed in the same manner as in the Dáil chamber.

I have been informed that the equipment which is recording this meeting is not operating satisfactorily.

I wanted to ask are we being recorded and would we normally be and is a verbatim report necessary? Is it necessary that every golden syllable that drops from our lips be written down for posterity?

Chairman

I am advised that we are obliged to have a verbatim report, it is just the same as if we were in Committee in the Dáil.

Normally we would be recorded as well?

Chairman

When considering the Bill section by section there must be a verbatim report. Private meetings may be held for discussion purposes.

While the procedures in terms of establishing a committee can be agreed without necessarily having a verbatim report I think that it is essential that we have a verbatim report of what we discuss if it is a piece of legislation that is being debated by the committee. That is not a choice any of us have. Can we establish through the Clerk what the situation is in relation to the technical equipment? Can we proceed now?

The Chairman informed the Committee that the recording system had failed.

The Committee adjourned at 4.30 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Wednesday 14th December 1983.

Barr
Roinn