Dáil debates

Thursday, 9 July 2009

11:00 am

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I know that. Will there be a review of this report's publication, as the Government must publish it in everybody's interest? The use of the guillotine by the Government in the final four weeks of this session in 2009 occurred in 86% of cases or 18 of 21 Bills. In four of those Bills there were clear constitutional implications. Those are the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill, the Defamation Bill, the Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill and the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill.

The consequences of using the guillotine to the extent the Government has means that elected representatives do not get the opportunity to scrutinise legislation in the way they should and the Dáil does not fully perform its constitutional role of enacting legislation. Most important, the presumption of constitutionality is threatened in the development of legislation in these circumstances. It behoves the Government to look again at the requirements for guillotines, which should only be used in truly exceptional circumstances.

Is there any Bill on the A list that will be taken tomorrow of which we do not have notice? On 22 April the Government Chief Whip announced the legislative programme for the summer session, indicating that the Government intended to publish 26 Bills in that session. Of those, 17 Bills have been published and nine have not. I am not clear from the Government Whip's office as to whether there is an intention to take one of those Bills tomorrow, namely the employment agency regulation Bill, which has not yet been published. If not, I assume the nine unpublished Bills will go on the list for the autumn session. I hope there will be clarity from the Tánaiste on when the House will be expected to return to deal with NAMA.

I have received correspondence from the editors of The Irish Times and the Irish Independent, major national newspapers, and they make a point on the importance of having a team of journalists in Leinster House with ready access to the politicians and public representatives.

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