Alex White (Labour)

I second Senator Norris's proposal that the Order of Business be amended to allow for a debate on No. 23 on the Order Paper.

On the comments made in regard to the Veritas advertisement, I point out that it is only a few short months since this House debated this question in the context of the Broadcasting Bill. While I do not necessarily expect anybody on the opposite side to point that out to the House, Government legislation dealing with this matter was brought into this House by the Minister. A debate was raised on an amendment proposed, I think, by Senator Mullen, which I did not support. Nevertheless, the issue of advertising directed towards a religious or political end was raised during that debate. It is not as though this is an issue that has suddenly arisen. It has been open for debate. There is no doubt that the refusal in respect of the Veritas advertisement appears odd.

As I understand it, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has offered to discuss with Veritas an amendment to the wording used. An issue arises in respect of religious advertising in general. It is all very well to point to one example of it, but Members ought to recall we had an opportunity to debate this issue openly in this House and to determine whether existing rules in respect of advertising directed towards a religious or political end should be renewed and repeated in the new legislation. As I understand it, that is the position of the Government in this regard. I hope a Member on the opposite side of the House will take the opportunity to point that out to the House rather than leaving it to a member of the Opposition to do so.

I support strongly Senator O'Toole's remarks in respect of the taking of the Order of Business on Friday. This is a serious issue. Members will be aware that issues relating to the business of this House are normally dealt with in a co-operative manner by the leaders. This proposal — I want all Members to be aware of this — is a unilateral decision on the part of the Leader, which does not have the support of any of the leaders on this side of the House. That is a departure from the kind of co-operative approach we expect in ordering the business of this House. This is a decision taken by the Leader on his own and it is one which we do not support. That is a departure from the manner in which these issues are normally dealt with.

We were told last week there would be no Order of Business last Friday because the Minister would not be available, but the Minister was available only until 11.30 a.m. anyway, and we were not told that would be the case. The reality is that if we had an Order of Business last Friday the Minister would not have come into the House at all and we were not told that. We need a little more candour from the Leader on issues like that. I support Senator O'Toole's objection to the removal of the Order of Business on a sitting day in circumstances where the Leader appears to want to facilitate only half a sitting day rather than a full day's sitting.