Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I wish to make a number of points about the taking of business in the House. I note once again that no legislation has been included in the Order Paper. I ask the Leader to explain what is happening and why there is no Government legislation available for the House to deal with in its work. A series of statements have been scheduled to be taken this week. Will the Leader clarify the position? What is causing the delay and why is there no legislation for the House to deal with? Will there be legislation available to it in the coming weeks?

The House is due to debate the Croke Park agreement tomorrow. Many are asking what has been happening and whether any progress has been made under the agreement. While I look forward with interest to hearing what the Minister has to say tomorrow, I ask that the Government circulate a briefing paper before the debate to give the House some indication on whether the work expected to be done has been done. Has the Department submitted what was expected from it? Have meetings taken place? The House needs some background information. There has been a curious silence about the agreement in the past few weeks and months.

My third point concerns the letter from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, to the party leaders. Has he written the same letter to the Taoiseach? I ask the Leader to outline Fianna Fáil's response to the initiative the Minister has suggested. Does he expect support to be forthcoming from Fianna Fáil? Where does the initiative stand? We need to be given this information.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, said on Bloomberg in the United States that the welfare and pensions bills might be targeted in December. While he was talking about the subject on television in the United States, many families here were concerned about the potential impact of cuts in welfare payments. I note the House has not debated that issue. It is very important that every Member is given the opportunity to express his or her views before the debate take place on the budget. How does the Leader intend to organise the debate on the budget? Last week I raised the question of whether the Government would change its traditional approach to the budget and be more open with the figures in this House, more open about targets and have a different type of discussion from the one we normally have. I am interested in hearing the response of the Leader to my questions.