Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

May I speak to the amendment for a minute? I appreciate the letter the Chairman gave me on this, and I am familiar with the practice that while it is the Chairman who signs the letter it is usually not the chairperson who makes the ruling. I met the Clerk of the Dáil on other interpretations of this. It is deeply frustrating for Members who have a role in financial matters. The idea the amendment has been ruled out of order as it is not relevant to the provisions of the Bill is absolutely ludicrous. I question how the ruling has been made. The legislation is about the capitalisation of financial institutions. This is what the primary legislation is about.

We have just introduced an amendment to the Companies Act, which we have all, including the Minister of State, acknowledged is unrelated to this legislation. The Minister mentioned on Second Stage that he was going to bring forward that amendment. On Second Stage I, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson and, I am sure, others including the Minister of State, all raised the issue of retrospective recapitalisation, which is central to the legislation. Commencement orders are central to any legislation, but a commencement order tied to the issue of retrospective recapitalisation has been ruled out of order. Despite the substance of whether it should be in or not, the issue should be allowed to be debated. The ruling is completely out of order and I ask the Chair, who has signed the letter, to interrogate how such a ruling was made. It is frustrating the work of the committee.

I agree we must facilitate the Government with regard to the amendment to the Companies Act, but that is the amendment which should have been out of order. This amendment is completely in order with the provisions of the Bill. Commencement orders are included in many pieces of legislation and they are standard practice. My amendment was to introduce a commencement order and people could have argued whether we should or should not have one. The commencement order was tied to the Minister reporting on the retrospective recapitalisation of our banks. The Bill as it was initiated originally is about bailing out banks and the issue of their capitalisation through this fund. It is not acceptable.