Vol. 695 Thursday, No. 2 19 November 2009 DI´OSPO´ IREACHTAI´ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES DA´ IL E´ IREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIU´ IL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Thursday, 19 November 2009. Requests to move Adjournment of Da´il under Standing Order 32 ……………… 239 Order of Business ……………………………… 240 Statement of Estimates for Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion ………… 257 Statement of Expenditure for Houses of the Oireachtas: Motion ……………… 258 Treaty of Amsterdam: Referral to Joint Committee …………………… 258 Statute Law Revision Bill 2009: Order for Report Stage …………………………… 258 Report and Final Stages …………………………… 258 Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Bill 2009: Order for Second Stage …………………………… 259 Second Stage ……………………………… 259 Referral to Select Committee ………………………… 284 Ceisteanna — Questions Minister for Defence Priority Questions …………………………… 285 Other Questions …………………………… 293 Adjournment Debate Matters …………………………… 303 Adjournment Debate Job Protection ……………………………… 304 Company Closures …………………………… 306 Waste Management …………………………… 308 Bovine Disease Controls …………………………… 310 Questions: Written Answers …………………………… 313 DÁIL ÉIREANN ———— Déardaoin, 19 Samhain 2009. Thursday, 19 November 2009. ———— Chuaigh an Ceann Comhairle i gceannas ar 10.30 a.m. ———— Paidir. Prayer. ———— Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32. An Ceann Comhairle: Before coming to the Order of Business I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 32. I will call on Deputies in the order in which they submitted their notices to my office. I call Deputy P. J. Sheehan. Deputy P. J. Sheehan: I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, to discuss the review of emergency depart- ments and pre-hospital emergency care in Cork and Kerry by the HSE yesterday which will downgrade Bantry Hospital to a referral unit for the Cork University Hospital. It is not uncom- mon for the people from the Bantry Hospital catchment area to wait 15 days to have a plaster cast applied to a broken wrist just because there are now no facilities in Bantry Hospital. Is that the treatment that will be meted out by the Government to the people of Cork South- West who fought so hard for the freedom we enjoy today? Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: Hear, hear. Allow that one, a Cheann Comhairle. A Deputy: That is in order. An Ceann Comhairle: I now call on Deputy Ferris. Deputy Ferris without interruption, please. Deputy Martin Ferris: Under Standing Order 32, I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil to debate the laying off by the BERU plant in Tralee of 80 workers and the impact that will have, particularly at this time of the year, on so many families in the Tralee area and of the need to ensure that the remaining 120 jobs at the factory are protected and that steps are taken to address the overall problem of high unemployment in the town of Tralee and the surround- ing north Kerry area. An Ceann Comhairle: Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 32. Deputy P. J. Sheehan: What is in order in this House? Even the seats are breaking down now. Deputy Olivia Mitchell: Sabotage. 239 Order of 19 November 2009. Business (Interruptions). Deputy Dermot Ahern: Is Deputy Bannon off with Deputy Kenny in Athlone? (Interruptions). Order of Business. The Tánaiste: It is proposed to take No. 12, motion re Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission; No. 13, motion re Supplementary Statement of Expenditure for Houses of the Oireachtas, No. 13a, motion re referral to joint committee of proposed approval by Dáil Éireann for a Council Decision concerning the signing of the agreement between the European Union and Japan on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and a Council Decision concerning the signing of the agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the Euro- pean Union to the United States for purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme; No. 29, Statute Law Revision Bill 2009 — Order for Report, Report and Final Stages, and No. 5, Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Bill 2009 — Order for Second Stage and Second Stage. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that: (1) Nos. 12, 13 and 13a shall be decided without debate; and (2) there shall be no Adjournment debates under Standing Order 21 next Tuesday, 24 November 2009. An Ceann Comhairle: There are two proposals to put to the House today. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. 12, 13 and 13a agreed to? Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It is not agreed. Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Labour Party will not agree to the Order of Business and to this proposal in particular. We are just a few days away from a major strike in this country. In the past number of days I have asked the Taoiseach what action the Government is taking to avert that strike. I have urged him and his Ministers to seriously engage in discussions and negotiations to try to avert the strike, which will close every school, reduce hospitals to merely a Christmas Day level of service and which will have every public office in the country closed. The entire public service operation of the country will be closed next Tuesday. There is nothing on the Order Paper today indicating that a Minister will come in here to explain what is being done to try to avert that dispute. The Tánaiste is the line Minister who has responsibility for industrial relations in the country. She does not have any proposals to avert it. The only matter on the Order Paper today is a tacit acceptance by Government that the strike is going ahead anyway because there is a proposal here that there will be no Adjourn- ment debates on Tuesday next, presumably because, not only will there not be sufficient staff in the House to manage that, but there will not be staff right up to principal officer level in the Departments concerned to prepare responses to Adjournment debates for Tuesday next. If there were ever a giveaway that the Government has tacitly accepted that the strike will go ahead and that it is making no effort to avert it, it is that particular proposal, which is on the Order Paper today, effectively stating that the Government accepts there will be a strike on Tuesday next and it does not propose to do anything. I do not know of a Government anywhere in Europe or elsewhere that would take the same kind of blasé attitude to a major strike in the public service where the entire service will be closed down. It is as if the Government wants this strike to take place. 240 Order of 19 November 2009. Business Deputy Pat Carey: That is not so. Deputy Timmy Dooley: The Deputy wants it. Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Government is doing nothing to prevent it happening. It is now presenting an Order of Business which is tacitly accepting that it is going to happen. Deputy Timmy Dooley: Will Deputy Gilmore turn up on Tuesday and pass the pickets? Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The Labour Party is not agreeing to this Order of Business because of the Government’s ineptitude in handling this issue and because of its failure to do anything to try to avert this dispute. Deputy Alan Shatter: I was going to raise this matter under No. 2 because that is where it is referred to in the Order of Business. It would be helpful if a statement was made to the House detailing what arrangements are being put in place to protect emergency services next Tuesday. If the Government regards the strike as inevitable and if no action can be taken to prevent it, this House should be informed of the arrangements being made to facilitate the running of the House and to maintain a record of what is happening here. I appreciate that this is more relevant to item No. 2 than No. 1, but I regard it as unacceptable that the sovereign parliament of this country should be curtailed in properly conducting its business by any strike action. Adjournment debates should be permitted next Tuesday. Such debates are often the only mechanism for Opposition Deputies — and, indeed, on occasion, for backbench Government Deputies — to raise urgent local or national issues of public importance and to get a Govern- ment response to them. It is a negation of democracy that, if this strike does take place, the workings of this Parliament should grind to a halt or only function partially. On that particular matter we will be opposing the Order of Business. In the cataclysmic economic circumstances in which the State finds itself, I do not believe that this strike is helpful or can contribute to a resolution of our major economic or fiscal difficulties. The fact that this strike is taking place and the Government is essentially falling asleep on the job, is a damning indictment of the Government’s incompetence. Deputy Seán Power: The Deputy is asleep himself. Deputy Alan Shatter: It is also proof of the extent to which we need a general election in order to have a Government with a mandate to take the economic measures that are so badly required to tackle the problems of this country. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: There are two propositions on the Order Paper this morning. On the grouping of Nos. 12, 13 and 13a, I would have appreciated some elaboration on the guarantees of protection of citizens concerning No. 13a and the right to privacy. We are not allowed to address 13a because the proposition is that it be taken without debate.