It is proposed to take No. 10b, Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Carbon Revenue Levy) Bill 2010, financial resolution; No. 10c, motion re sittings and business of the Dáil; No. 21, Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad] — Report Stage (resumed), to adjourn at 1 p.m. if not previously concluded and the order shall not resume thereafter; and No. 5, Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010 — Order for Second Stage and Second Stage. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that Nos. 10b and 10c shall be decided without debate and in the case of 10c, the motion and all amendments thereto shall be decided by one question which shall be put from the Chair. The Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 9 June 2010.

There are two proposals to put to the House today. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 10b, Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Carbon Revenue Levy) Bill 2010, financial resolution, and 10c, motion re sittings and business of the Dáil, agreed to?

I join with the Ceann Comhairle in welcoming Dr. Paisley and his good wife to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery of the Dáil. Over the years we have heard the voice of Dr. Paisley on many issues, usually much louder than mine. I might have disagreed with him on many issues but on one I would always agree, and that is the question of the accountability of parliament.

I disagree with these motions and with the Order of Business. It includes a proposal that the House should come together on Wednesday and Thursday of next week without any accountability, any legislation, any questions to a Minister, any Leaders' Questions and any Adjournment debate, at a time when we expect that two major banking reports are to be put into the public domain, at a time when the Taoiseach refuses to come in here on Thursday mornings, at a time when the Government clearly has something to hide or is afraid to return to the House to answer questions——

Hear, hear.

——about its gross abuse and wastage of public money and the fact that it has transferred the debts raised in Anglo Irish Bank onto the backs of the Irish taxpayer.

Hear, hear.

I understand the Minister for Health and Children has written to the chief executive of the Health Service Executive

I am sorry to interrupt Deputy Kenny but the Order of Business is not a catch-all situation.

I am not accepting the Order of Business because the Government expects——

The opportunity to comment on the Order of Business does not provide a catch-all arrangement.

The Ceann Comhairle might as well adjourn the House because we are not going to get anywhere with this Order of Business.

Did the Deputy have holidays booked for next week?

This Order of Business is not acceptable.

We would much rather hear the Deputy say he will co-operate with the House.

The fact of the matter is that we are being bulldozed into agreeing this Order of Business by the Government which wants to take next week in this House statements on the Ryan commission——

Hear, hear.

——-which is important. However, there must accountability and parliamentary scrutiny when this House meets. God knows what will happen when the Rachel Corrie reaches or is intercepted by the Israeli navy on its way to Gaza through international waters. We have sought assurances——

The Deputy is abusing the Order of Business if he continues in this vein.

——-and we need to be vigilant here. As I stand in this Chamber, there are children in this country in positions of great vulnerability.

That is correct.

We know that the HSE has sent children to foster parents who have not been vetted.

Deputy Kenny, this is the Order of Business. The opportunity to make those points——

We know there are children sent into care where no social workers visit them.

I am not disputing the Deputy's right to make those points but there are other times when he can make them.

We know there are children who are missing, having been sent into care by the HSE.

Deputy Kenny, please.

We have a situation where the Government continues to pump taxpayers' money into Anglo Irish Bank which will sink the next generation with debts.

I ask Deputy Kenny to co-operate with the Chair.

The Government expects us to——

I ask Deputy Kenny to co-operate with the Chair.

——to agree an Order of Business which requires us to come in here next week and do or say nothing and ask no questions of an absent Government, absent Greens and so on.

We are to do nothing.

I will remind the House of what the absent Green Ministers should remember, namely, when former Minister of State, Deputy Sargent, was leader of the Green Party in 2006——

He turned yellow.

——he said: "The Government wishes to insulate itself from scrutiny and accountability." This is true.

All the time.

This Government has a lot to hide. It does not want to come in here and it expects us to accept this Order of Business——

Deputy Kenny, there are specific proposals being put to the House this morning.

——which requires a day of no business. It is a veneer, a charade and a whitewash and I will not stand for it.

Hear, hear.

The Opposition is annoyed it has to sit an extra week.

The Minister of State, Deputy Mary White, is wearing yellow today.

Kilkenny colours.

The Minister of State is not from Kilkenny. She is a Carlow woman.

Deputies, unless I get co-operation in the House I will have to suspend business.

The Ceann Comhairle might as well suspend the House. This is a joke.

I call Deputy Gilmore.

The Deputy must have booked holidays.

Where will Deputy Dooley be going?

We at least know the difference between red and green.

Deputy Kehoe, please. I call Deputy Gilmore.

I think the Kilkenny colour is a deeper yellow.

Canary yellow.

The Greens of late are a weak yellow.

I join with Deputy Kenny in welcoming Dr. Paisley and his wife to the House. This is an historic occasion.

The Government proposal before the House this morning in regard to next week is unconstitutional, a matter I will deal with later. I want first to deal with the political context for this proposal. The Government had originally intended that there would be no sitting of the House next week because it was anticipated that the three by-elections——

The Whips agreed that last September.

Deputy Dempsey, please.

——which are outstanding, one for a year, would be held next week in conjunction with the referendum on the rights of children. If the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, had got his act together by now in respect of the Lord Mayor of Dublin——

He is very seldom here.

——we might have had that election too. The Government does not want to hold the by-elections. It is afraid of facing the people. There will not, therefore, be by-elections next week and, because of this, the Government cannot hold the referendum on the rights of children next week. It is quite a cynical position on the part of Government in terms of it being prepared to sacrifice the welfare of children to protect its own political hide. As a result of all of this, the House must sit next week. The Government Chief Whip announced this with some fanfare last weekend.

The proposed sitting for next week comprises a day and a half. I do not have any objection to the business proposed in this regard but the House will be meeting for only a day and a half. If this is not bad enough, we have before us this morning a proposal that next week there will be no oral questions, Order of Business, Adjournment Debates, Requests under Standing Order 32, Private Members' business or votes.

Sin é.

That type of order for an entire week's business is arrogant. It shows a Government that is out of touch and that is abusing its majority in the House. It is a muzzling of Parliament. I submit that the proposal is not constitutional. I draw the attention of the House to Article 15.11.1 of the Constitution which states:

1° All questions in each House shall, save as otherwise provided by this Constitution, be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting other than the Chairman or presiding member.

The motion before us states: "Notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, unless the Dáil shall otherwise order. . . " The problem is that if this motion is passed, the Dáil will have no means by which it may otherwise order business in the House next week because it provides that there shall be no votes in the House. I put it to the House that the motion proposed by the Tánaiste is not constitutional and should not be taken in this House. It is unprecedented for any Government to abuse its parliamentary majority by bringing before Parliament a proposal which effectively muzzles it. That proposal and the manner in which it has been presented prevents the House from making a change next week.

Let us suppose an issue arises next week.

Yes.

Let us suppose an issue arises in regard to the flotilla approaching Gaza or that there is a national emergency of one type or another.

They are like a chorus.

We are on the Order of Business. The Deputy is moving off the point.

There is a contemptuous attitude being portrayed by the Government in this regard.

They are going on their holidays.

Let us call this what it is, namely, a pretence that the Dáil will be doing normal business next week. The reason for this is that Ministers are going on holidays next week.

Hear, hear.

The Government is making a mockery of the Dáil and is running away from its responsibilities.

The proposal is disgraceful.

Is the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, going to Spain?

They could not be going on holidays again; they are only back.

Order, please. Before I call Deputy Ó Caoláin, I wish to deal with a few points raised by Deputy Gilmore.

Are Ministers going away again?

Remember the snow.

Where was the Deputy?

Deputies, please. I must deal with a number of issues.

Is the Minister going back to his holiday home in Malta?

A number of issues have been raised that I need to deal with.

——in the High Court.

Deputy Ring, I wish to deal with a number of issues which——

On a point of order——

I cannot allow a point of order when there is disorder in theHouse.

On a point of order——

The Deputy cannot raise a point of order when there is disorder in the House.

On a point of order——

I ask the Deputy to resume his seat. I cannot deal with a point of order when there is disorder in the House.

The Deputy is only upsetting himself.

I wish to deal with a number of points raised by Deputy Gilmore. First, the Chair cannot rule on constitutional matters, that is an issue for another venue or another place. The motion before the House is in accordance with the precedents of this House.

There are no precedents for this.

I wish to deal with another point the Deputy made. The Dáil can next week vary the order if it so decides and so wishes. Votes proposed for next week are merely postponed.

We can deal with them now.

I call Deputy Ó Caoláin.

On my own behalf and on behalf of my Sinn Féin colleagues in the Dáil Chamber, I join the other party leaders in extending a welcome to Dr. Paisley and his wife. In witnessing the somewhat boisterous exchanges here this morning, I have no doubt the thought, "why have I missed such craic down here in the past?" might have crossed Dr. Paisley's mind. I would have no objection if he went back and said, "the craic down there is mighty, we should look at it again".

To turn to the business in hand, on my own behalf and my colleague's behalf, we strongly object to the ordering of business not only in terms of the approach today but the ordering of business for next week. Make no mistake about it, it is a sham session that is being put together for next week. There is no other way to describe it.

Exactly.

The critical issue is not only that there will be no questions, Order of Business or Private Members' business next week but that there will be no votes. Why will there be no votes? The reality must be that the Government is far too afraid or it already knows that it will not be able to muster enough support to ensure the Government's position if any vote were to be called on any of the matters before the House scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of next week. That is at the core of what this is all about.

This will not impress the wider population who already have a very understandably jaundiced opinion of political life and the role of politicians in serving their needs today. That applies across the board and it is not only a reflection on Government, it reflects just as uncomfortably on members of the Opposition.

In terms of the proposition before the House, it would have been better if the Government had decided to continue, as scheduled, not to sit than to come forward with this proposition and the methodology it has employed. We need only look at what we are facing — the issues that are presenting here. Yesterday the Tánaiste and the Minister for Education and Skills announced curtailments in library services to schools in disadvantaged communities. We cannot get responses from specific Ministers. The Minister for Transport sitting beside the Tánaiste is not responding to parliamentary questions — I am sure this is not only my experience — on roads and public transport.

Hear, hear.

The Minister for Health and Children does not take a serious interest in her portfolio responsibility and kicks everything to the HSE under health. It is now some four months later and we have not got responses to questions. That is a disgrace. Only two hours are being provided to deal with the Ryan report——

Hear, hear.

——against the backdrop of all we have highlighted here in recent weeks, namely, the State's failure to address the needs of children in State care, it having a disgraceful record and one that needs to be addressed substantively on the floor of this Dáil.

A chairde, this is a shameful proposition. It is one that not only the Opposition should reject this morning, the House should reject it. Accordingly, I ask that we unanimously say this is not worth what is being proposed; either the Government should come forward with a real schedule of work for the coming week or forget it.

Hear, hear.

On the point of order, the Ceann Comhairle responded that he believes the House can vary the Order of Business for next week. I respectfully suggest to him that I do not see how it can do that, if there is no Order of Business at which the business of the House can be discussed

Hear, hear.

Second, if there is no provision for the taking of a division or vote next week, that means that the House will be deprived of making a decision. I submit that this proposal is not constitutional. I suggest that at a minimum the Ceann Comhairle should adjourn the House to take some advice on it and to perhaps consult either party leaders or party Whips on the proposal.

I draw the Ceann Comhairle's attention to the fact that Deputy Stagg had proposed seven amendments to this motion from the Government this morning but it will not be possible to deal with those seven amendments individually because the Government proposes that the motion be taken as one question and be put without debate, which will deprive us of the opportunity of dealing with it.

I recommend that the Ceann Comhairle adjourn the House and take some advice on this. I submit to him, on behalf of the Labour Party, that the Government proposal before the House is not constitutional.

The position is that the House can vary the order next week by agreement of the House.

How can that be done?

The Members of the House are the masters of their own destiny in this matter. That is the decision. We are moving on.

We are a Parliament. We are elected here. We have rights and we will not be steamrolled.

The Ceann Comhairle is supposed to uphold those rights.

The Ceann Comhairle has said that the House can vary the order next week and that the House is the master of its own destiny. This motion removes the House's mastery of its own destiny and its discretion. There is no means under the motion the Government is proposing whereby the House can change the order. The motion sets down the business for next week without any provision or opportunity for that business to be varied. There will be no Order of Business, no votes and no Private Members' time. It is removing from the House from next week the discretion the House would have in a normal week's business. I put it to the Ceann Comhairle again that this is not constitutional and I ask him to protect the rights of the Members of this House by, at a minimum, adjourning the House and taking some advice on what I have put to him.

Hear, hear.

We have long established precedents on this general area.

We do not have precedents for this.

The order of the House can be varied; it has happened in the past. I call the Tánaiste.

On a point of order, a Cheann Comhairle, at what time next week will provision be made for the order to be changed?

That is a matter for the House to decide.

If we submit a changed order on Wednesday, will the Ceann Comhairle provide an opportunity for that to be debated and decided? Will the Ceann Comhairle allow a challenge to next week's order to ensure the Dáil can decide whether it wants to proceed?

We are having that now.

No, we are not.

Will the Ceann Comhairle allow that next week?

We must have order in the House.

We need to know that.

The proposal for the order and the variation of it naturally comes from the Government side of the House.

At what point will that be decided next week?

So the Ceann Comhairle will not permit any order to be put.

There is a precedent where if a proposal is brought forward to vary the order of the House——

On a point of order, for the purposes of clarity, I put it to the Ceann Comhairle that next week he will continue to preside over this sham by advising the House that the matter was settled last Thursday.

We are not going to have a debate on this. I have ruled on it at this stage.

It is improper for the Chair to bow to the Government on this issue.

The Deputy will withdraw that remark. I am not bowing to Government pressure on this matter.

But the Chair is misleading the House.

Deputy Flanagan will withdraw that remark or leave the House.

On a point of order——

The Deputy will withdraw that remark or leave the House. I am giving the Deputy an opportunity to withdraw that allegation.

I will withdraw the remark on the basis that the Ceann Comhairle will advise me as to the circumstances in which he will allow for normal business to take place next week.

I am making the ruling on the basis of a long established precedent in the House——

With respect, I ask the Ceann Comhairle to cite the precedent for the benefit of Members of this House.

We will discuss it——

I ask the Ceann Comhairle to cite it.

On a point of order——

I call Deputy Shatter.

On a point of order, in regard to the advice the Ceann Comhairle gave to the House just now, and earlier——

Just before you came in.

At least he knows how to use modern technology.

I was watching the Members opposite making fools of themselves——

Deputy Shatter, address your remarks to the Chair, please.

——undermining the power of this House on the television screens.

Deputy Shatter, will you address your remarks to the Chair, please.

I am surprised to see the Deputy here on a Thursday.

At least he was working.

In regard to the Ceann Comhairle's advice to the House, that the House can vary this order next week, I point out that if there is a proposal to the House next week to vary the order, based on the order we are accepting today, a vote on that proposal would be postponed until the following week. If we waited to the following week to vote on it we then have to, by way of political groundhog day, turn back the week we missed.

Dr. Who.

I understand the Ceann Comhairle is trying to guide the House.

Yes.

If I may explain to the Ceann Comhairle, what he stated to the House is completely unworkable by virtue of the order now being adopted. Any change proposed to this order next week, or any vote on it, will be transferred to the following week. It is the intention of the Government to castrate the powers of this House and render every Member on this side politically impotent.

Deputy, you have gone long past the point of order. I advise the Deputy the House has it within its power to order a vote on the variation next week.

No, because this order is postponing a vote.

I call Deputy Stagg.

A Cheann Comhairle, you are wrong——

Deputy, resume your seat, please.

No wonder Dr. Paisley left.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his ruling that the House can vary the order next week.

Yes.

It is all very funny for the Tánaiste and the Minister forTransport.

I ask him to clarify that, so that there will be no doubt about it. Next Wednesday when the Dáil meets, I intend to propose that there be an Order of Business, Questions to the Taoiseach and votes taken on any issue where there is a division. Is the Ceann Comhairle now telling me and the House that will be in order and be voted on? If that is not the case——

Deputy Stagg, if you were a member of the Government making the proposal, representing the Government's point of view, you would be in order in doing so.

A Cheann Comhairle, they will not be here.

They will be on their holidays.

Resume your seat. I call the Tánaiste.

Deputies, resume your seats, please.

When I made that suggestion I was told to withdraw the remark. In effect, the Ceann Comhairle is——

I call the Tánaiste.

A Cheann Comhairle——

Deputies, please. Deputy Michael D. Higgins, I have called the Tánaiste.

A Cheann Comhairle, molaim an rún.

Tá go maith. I am putting the proposal.

The question is, "That the proposal for dealing with Nos. 10b and 10c, Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Carbon Revenue Levy) Bill 2010; financial resolution; and motion re sittings and business of the Dáil without debate be agreed to”.

How could that be changed next week?

The Taoiseach should hang on, there might be another vote.

Is the proposal that the Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 agreed to?

No. The Taoiseach should come back.

Perhaps he should bring his party with him when he leaves.

Let them go fully.

The Taoiseach is heading the wrong way.

It is not appropriate for the Taoiseach of the country to walk out of the Dáil when his Government——

He is off to speak to Senator Ivor Callely.

——proposed that this House should come back for a day and half next week. It is a sham, charade, whitewash and abdication of responsibility. There will be no Question Time, Leaders' Questions, Adjournments or votes of any kind.

Last September, the Fine Gael Whip agreed to no sitting at all for next week.

Deputy Kenny, without interruption.

That is right. He was happy enough not to have a sitting when they agreed the calendar last September.

It might be fine for the Ministers.

This is an hypocrisy.

It might be fine for them to smirk away over there but when the people of this country were in the middle of a winter freeze, the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, was in Malta and said he would stay there.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

That is the truth. Where was the Deputy?

I will tell you where I was.

Deputy Kenny.

I was with my people——

He was in Castlebar.

Deputy Ring is everywhere.

——in Castlebar, County Mayo.

Deputy Kenny should address his remarks through the Chair.

He was keeping an eye on Ring.

If this Government thinks it can come here with this level of arrogance and contempt for the people, the Parliament and the Dáil and the issues we have to discuss, it has another thing coming. As Chairman of this assembly, the Ceann Comhairle must understand that if the Order of Business as proposed for next week is not changed, there will be very little business conducted in this House.

We are awaiting publication of two serious bank reports and this country is in hock to what was allowed to happen with regulations not being implemented or supervised by the Government. There is an ongoing issue on the high seas, where a humanitarian ship headed for Gaza may well be intercepted with serious consequences involving Irish citizens. The Government wants the House to return but there is no mention of any accountability or a right to ask questions. Regarding the HSE, children in care are vulnerable and cannot speak about it.

Hear, hear.

The VHI is up for sale——

What about Quinn Insurance?

——without European authorisation. There is a series of issues, not to mention the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill of the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, and the would be Minister, Deputy Mattie McGrath. Other issues are to be put to the House, including the children's referendum——

This is not a catch-up occasion.

——and all of the other issues that need to be discussed.

Please, could we have some co-operation from the Deputy?

If the Fianna Fáil Party believes it can continue to act in this way,——

Call an election.

——it has reached a breathtaking level of arrogance in the way it treats this Parliament.

Hear, hear.

It reverts to what the previous Taoiseach stated.

We are still on the Order of Business.

He stated that Fianna Fáil's ethics were to get into and stay in government.

We are stuck here.

The Government does not want to answer questions.

We are on the Order of Business.

It does not want to deal with issues of accountability. It wants to walk away——

More outrage.

——and give two fingers to the people, the Parliament and the questions that need to be answered. The Government would lose nothing by having a normal day's business next week with Leaders' Questions, questions to the Taoiseach, Adjournment debates, Private Members' motions and being able to vote on issues. I ask the Government not to treat next Wednesday and Thursday as some kind of Friday sitting during which anodyne statements are made. This is a serious time in our country's development.

It is about legislation.

It is a serious time for the more than 400,000 people on the live register. It is a serious time for those in negative equity. It is a serious time for a generation of young people staring emigration in the face. The Government refuses to have anything to do with serious politics in terms of answering questions and being accountable.

We agree on the importance of the Ryan commission, but the Tánaiste, as the Deputy Head of Government, has nothing to lose by having a normal day's business in the Dáil, which would involve the commencement, Leaders' Questions, ordinary questions, Adjournment debates, motions and votes.

The Deputy has had ample opportunity to make his point. Will he give way to Deputy Gilmore?

I do not know what the Government has to hide or of what it is afraid. When I get the nation through the door——

I see the appeal from the party that says——

If Deputy Kenny does not desist——

——it is always eager to add to the party's archives realising that what it does now will matter for generations to come. Well, it does matter and it matters now.

Will Deputy Kenny resume his seat?

I charge the Tánaiste with abdication of responsibility and a clear reticence to have an ordinary day's business.

I will suspend the House if the Deputy does not resume his seat.

Suspend the House. Suspend the whole thing.

The Ceann Comhairle might as well close it down.

We will resume on the Order of Business.

A Cheann Comhairle, I would like to say the following. You adjourned the House for a ten minute period. I see no reason the Government should not have normal Dáil business next Wednesday and Thursday, and I have made that point vociferously. I find it regrettable that the Taoiseach walked out of the Chamber after the vote was taken. This is about his Government proposing that there be no effective accountability in the Chamber next Wednesday and Thursday, beyond the listed legislation, which is important in respect of the Ryan report statements. However, there should be normal accountability in the way we do business here.

I have made my point vociferously. I say to the Tánaiste directly that I see no reason the Government has chosen this attitude. Somebody on that side said "Let them hang", so that we will have an anodyne day where Ministers do not need to attend and where Government Deputies will not be forced to vote, as the motion proposed by the Government does not allow for that.