Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Noting what the Taoiseach said that it is intended to hold the election for the Lord Mayor of Dublin some time in 2010 and given that the people of Dublin South would be going to the polls some time in 2010 anyway, does he agree the logical date to have the Dublin South by-election would be on the same day as the election for the Lord Mayor of Dublin? If he is going to have one by-election on that date, he might as well hold all three. What would be the logic of having the election for the Lord Mayor of Dublin one day and the by-elections on another day?

Since we are on the subject of the election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, I note that is an addition to the list of Bills we are to get from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. There are now three Bills on that list for this session. I notice two Bills on the list for the last session have disappeared. One is the environment (miscellaneous provisions) Bill, which the Minister promised would extend the scope of the landfill levy to include incineration. The Minister was relying on this Bill to do something about the incinerator in Ringsend. I am not quite clear what he was planning to do about the incinerator in Ringsend but he said he would do something about it-----

See this speech in context