Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I appreciate the Acting Chairman's point on the Cathaoirleach. I attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement today. When I entered the Chamber I received a letter which stated five of my recommendations had been ruled out of order for three different reasons. One because there was a potential charge, which I contest, the second because they are outside the scope of the Bill and the third because two recommendations created a potential charge on the people and one on the Exchequer. They are worded in such a way that we can debate them in this House. Committee Stage is the appropriate place to tease them out.

I challenge the guidance which has been given, namely, that this is outside the scope of the Bill. If we are to deal with a Finance Bill we need to deal with the policies behind it and a job creation and stimulus package. We are saying the Government should introduce it at this point in time, because Sinn Féin has proposed a job creation and stimulus package and a household stimulus package. The Minister should examine it. In contrast to the Labour Party proposal , we are not asking the Government to produce a report. Rather, it is up to the Minister to examine this issue.

I welcome the chance to review the decision taken by the Cathaoirleach in ruling five of my recommendations out of order. I do not intend to speak on any of the others, but I will speak on each section and I will table the recommendations on Report Stage.