Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The questions are to try to establish from the Taoiseach the Government's priorities for legislation in 2010. In his reply the Taoiseach has referred us to the legislative list that was circulated at the beginning of the session. There are 85 pieces of legislation on that list but even with enormously improved productivity, we will not get 85 Bills enacted. The last time we had a legislative list, which was in September, 20 pieces of legislation were promised to be published by the Government in that session, that is, the session between September 2009 and Christmas 2009. Only eight of the 20 were published. A number of pieces of legislation on that list of 85 have been around for some time. There is a judicial council Bill, which was to deal with the disciplining of judges.

The Taoiseach will recall some issue arose in that regard. The legislation was originally promised in 2004 but has still not been published. There is a national monuments Bill which first appeared on the list in late 2003. Even with a Green Party Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, we still have not seen sight nor light of it. A Curragh of Kildare Bill was on every list published from 2003 until September of last year but it has now disappeared from the list altogether. I wonder what has happened to it.

There are a number of Bills that are urgent. My colleagues have been asking repeatedly about the necessity for legislation to deal with the management of apartment blocks and private housing schemes. My colleague, Deputy Quinn, has been asking about urgent legislation promised with a view to dealing with the patronage of primary schools. Legislation is promised to deal with qualifications in education and training, which I would have believed is fairly topical given the report that was issued last week on grade inflation.

There is also legislation that might save the State some money, such as the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which has been published by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with a view to placing caps and controls on incinerators. This must be considered in light of the contradictory positions he and the Dublin city manager appear to have adopted regarding the incinerator proposed for Ringsend. We want to establish, in a general way, which of the 85 listed Bills the Taoiseach plans to have enacted by the end of the year.

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