Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a valid question. Obviously, on a number of occasions in the House the Minister has dealt with the issuing of prescriptions and treatment for particular ailments. Even if he were so willing he cannot under compassionate grounds issue an instruction for particular medicine to be distributed because it requires a prescription from an authorised clinical person. I read the account of Deputy Gino Kenny's involvement in this. In this Dáil, because of the number of Independents and smaller groupings, there were legitimate claims that backbenchers have not had enough time or opportunity to put forward their views about Private Members' Bills. Some 140 Private Members' Bills are now backed up and Government has not objected to those. However, it is a matter for the parties and groupings to decide which of those 140 Bills they actually want to prioritise.

The Deputy asked me to give him a date for the taking of the next Stage of his Bill. I ask him to deal with this through the process of doing business here. The Deputy's Bill is now one of 140 Bills listed for decision. It is not my function to determine the date of this, but it is a function of everybody. On a scale that never arose in any previous Dáil, Members have the opportunity to put forward Private Members' Bills, with time to debate and discuss them, for very valid reasons, as Deputy Gino Kenny, the author of a Bill, has done. It is not a case of the Government determining the date for taking a Bill here. The Deputy should raise that through the process that applies for Bills coming through every week, with 140 backed up.

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