Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

What is happening here this morning is very similar to what the Government attempts to do as we come close to a recess. The first thing it does is bring forward legislation that was not adequately prepared in the first place, namely, the Merchant Shipping Bill, and instead of revising that legislation it brings in a batch of amendments that are larger than the Bill itself. The motion before us is to enable the Government to introduce Report Stage amendments that amount to more than what is in the Bill. It has done this before; it is a new approach to legislating.

There are 20 items of legislation listed for publication this session. The Government has published only one Bill since 29 January, namely, the Finance Bill 2010. The rest of them will be dealt with by this new form of legislating, which is to publish Bills during the recess and bring in amendments on Report Stage. This is not acceptable.

Next week will be our last in the House before the Easter break. There is a promised announcement on the proposed recapitalisation of Anglo Irish Bank. We are now being told that this announcement will be made sometime next week, but no provision has been made for debating it. If the Government thinks it can make this announcement some time after Leaders' Questions next Wednesday, and then not allow any opportunity to debate it in the House for three weeks, then it is very seriously mistaken. On top of all this, the report on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority apparently has been sitting on the desk of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. We have been told it has not been released because the Attorney General has been asked whether parts of it are acceptable, but it is now in the hands of a broadcaster. There is no justification for withholding that report a day longer, and I want to see it laid before the Oireachtas today. If it is in the hands of a broadcaster, it is in the public domain, so it is unacceptable for the Minister to say that he cannot publish it.

The Labour Party is opposing the proposal from the Government this morning because of what the legislation amounts to, but also because it is part of a pattern to let everything go to the last minute, close down the Dáil and then avoid debate for three or four weeks. We will come back to what Deputy McGuinness had to say at a later stage.

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