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(Speaker Continuing)
[Deputy Micheál Martin:   ] Further, it is in the context of a proposal to come before the people in the autumn to abolish the Seanad. What we are witnessing, bit by bit, is an incremental reduction of the democratic process, a dilution of the democratic process and a reduction of scrutiny of all measures. One can imagine a unicameral system with one House where the Government has a majority and it can ram Bills of all consequence through without debate. It says it in the document. Only one question can be voted on now. There is no facility to vote on particular amendments because of the guillotine.
We already know that the Government has clocked up a record in terms of the number of guillotines it has introduced since this Dáil commenced on very serious Bills such as those relating to the property tax, cuts to child benefit and the respite care grant. All of those Bills were rammed through in 24 hours with no room for debate.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: Chair, Chair.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Please.
Deputy Micheál Martin: I am entitled to speak. Deputy Stagg is not the Chair.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Micheál Martin: Stop acting with the bully-boy tactics.
Deputy Timmy Dooley: Trotsky is back.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Order, please.
Deputy Micheál Martin: Deputy Stagg is not the Chair. There is enough of a power grab going on now. He wants to run the whole show.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Timmy Dooley: The politburo is back in town.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: I want order, please.
Deputy Micheál Martin: This is the standing, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Sorry. I want to ask the leaders for a brief contribution on this.
Deputy Micheál Martin: I am entitled to speak. This is a very important Bill. We all have people coming to us who are in mortgage arrears and who are worried about the power of the banks and the attitude of the banks to them.
Deputy Alan Shatter: They are Fianna Fáil's victims.
Deputy Micheál Martin: David Hall has said that up to 50 new repossession cases are coming before the courts every month.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: That is Fianna Fáil's legacy.
Deputy Timmy Dooley: What is Deputy Stagg's legacy?
Deputy Micheál Martin: He has said there is an increased frequency in the level of approaches of that kind to people in mortgage arrears. No conditionality is being attached-----
Deputy Billy Kelleher: How many bankers has the Minister for Justice and Equality locked up today?
(Interruptions).
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Please, order.
Deputy Micheál Martin: There is no independent------
(Interruptions).
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Please. Standing Orders calls for brief contributions. I ask Deputy Martin to conclude and then we will have Deputy Adams.
Deputy Micheál Martin: I am endeavouring to make my contribution but, in line with the authoritarian streak evident in this Government, all we get is Deputies of the Government parties trying to shout down members of the Opposition when they raise legitimate questions on the Order of Business about the guillotining of Bills, unnecessarily.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Okay. Thank you, Deputy.
Deputy Micheál Martin: There is no necessity to guillotine this Bill. The spokespeople should be allowed proper time and space to table amendments and to discuss and vote on them. There was no need to guillotine the last measure either.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Thank you, Deputy. We are on this issue now.
Deputy Micheál Martin: I know that and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, knows that as well. However, it is being done for the convenience of Government and for the convenience of the Government backbenchers.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: I call Deputy Gerry Adams.
Deputy Micheál Martin: It is a disgrace. It is treating the House with contempt and treating the programme for Government with contempt as well.
(Interruptions).
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Order, please.
Deputy Gerry Adams: I will not take as long as the leader of Fianna Fáil, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but I want to make a point. I was watching the faces of some of the newly arrived Deputies during that whole brouhaha-----
Deputy Ciarán Lynch: Deputy Adams is one himself.
Deputy Gerry Adams: -----including me.
(Interruptions).
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Deputy Adams has the floor.
Deputy Gerry Adams: The fact is that this shows the character of this Government. The guillotine has been used over 50% of the time in the House. This is particular legislation which is about facilitating the banks to repossess homes.
Deputy Mattie McGrath: It is eviction legislation.
Deputy Gerry Adams: Let us consider the Government's attitude on this and then, for example, let us consider the failure of the Government to sign up for the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
Deputy Brendan Howlin: That has nothing to do with it.
Deputy Gerry Adams: Why does the Government refuse to do that? It is because the Minister for Justice and Equality says it would interfere with a person's property rights.
Deputy Brendan Howlin: Please, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Please, Minister, give me a chance. I cannot hear what is going on.
Deputy Gerry Adams: They are two examples. A battered woman is put out of her own home because the Government has said that to take action would interfere with the abuser's property rights, yet here it is rushing through legislation to facilitate the banks to repossess homes without any care at all for the property rights of the mortgage holder.
Deputy Richard Bruton: As I stated earlier, these are tranches of legislation that are essentially legacies from the situation that we have inherited in this area. We have to deal with the issues. The issues that we are seeking to bring to a conclusion today are powers in respect of an inquiry.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Brendan Howlin: No shouting down, remember.
Deputy Richard Bruton: They relate to powers to deal with flaws that were in the original Bill in 2009 which were recognised at the time the Bill was being presented and whose consequences were not intended to apply. We are dealing with an issue that had not been dealt with properly in 2009. We are also building into this legislation provision for the new personal insolvency legislation which gives protection to people who are under threat of repossession. We need this legislation.
The legislation we will deal with later is in respect of a commitment made. This is an area where we have made commitments to deliver this legislation in line with agreements with the troika. These are time-limited because of the extraordinary situation we are trying to deal with. We have made commitments and that is why at the end of this process we must get these agreed before the summer recess in accordance with the schedule. That is the background.
Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with No. 18 be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 84; Níl, 42.
| Tá |
Níl |
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Bannon, James.
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Adams, Gerry.
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Breen, Pat.
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Browne, John.
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Bruton, Richard.
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Calleary, Dara.
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Butler, Ray.
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Collins, Joan.
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Buttimer, Jerry.
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Colreavy, Michael.
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Byrne, Catherine.
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Cowen, Barry.
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Byrne, Eric.
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Daly, Clare.
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Carey, Joe.
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Doherty, Pearse.
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Coffey, Paudie.
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Dooley, Timmy.
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Collins, Áine.
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Ellis, Dessie.
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Conaghan, Michael.
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Ferris, Martin.
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Conlan, Seán.
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Flanagan, Luke 'Ming'.
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Connaughton, Paul J.
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Fleming, Sean.
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Conway, Ciara.
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Fleming, Tom.
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Coonan, Noel.
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Grealish, Noel.
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Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
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Halligan, John.
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Creighton, Lucinda.
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Healy, Seamus.
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Daly, Jim.
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Healy-Rae, Michael.
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Deasy, John.
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Keaveney, Colm.
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Deenihan, Jimmy.
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Kelleher, Billy.
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Doherty, Regina.
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Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
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Donohoe, Paschal.
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McConalogue, Charlie.
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Doyle, Andrew.
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McDonald, Mary Lou.
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Durkan, Bernard J.
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McGrath, Finian.
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English, Damien.
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McGrath, Mattie.
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Farrell, Alan.
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McLellan, Sandra.
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Feighan, Frank.
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Martin, Micheál.
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Ferris, Anne.
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Moynihan, Michael.
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Fitzgerald, Frances.
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Murphy, Catherine.
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Fitzpatrick, Peter.
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Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
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Flanagan, Charles.
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Ó Cuív, Éamon.
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Griffin, Brendan.
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Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
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Hannigan, Dominic.
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Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
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Harrington, Noel.
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O'Brien, Jonathan.
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Harris, Simon.
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O'Dea, Willie.
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Hayes, Brian.
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Pringle, Thomas.
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Heydon, Martin.
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Ross, Shane.
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Howlin, Brendan.
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Shortall, Róisín.
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Humphreys, Heather.
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Smith, Brendan.
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Humphreys, Kevin.
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Stanley, Brian.
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Keating, Derek.
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Troy, Robert.
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Kehoe, Paul.
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Wallace, Mick.
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Kelly, Alan.
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Kenny, Seán.
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Kyne, Seán.
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Lawlor, Anthony.
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Lynch, Ciarán.
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Lynch, Kathleen.
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Lyons, John.
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McCarthy, Michael.
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McEntee, Helen.
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McGinley, Dinny.
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McLoughlin, Tony.
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McNamara, Michael.
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Maloney, Eamonn.
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Mitchell, Olivia.
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Mitchell O'Connor, Mary.
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Mulherin, Michelle.
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Murphy, Dara.
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Murphy, Eoghan.
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Nash, Gerald.
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Neville, Dan.
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Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
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O'Donnell, Kieran.
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O'Donovan, Patrick.
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O'Dowd, Fergus.
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O'Mahony, John.
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O'Reilly, Joe.
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O'Sullivan, Jan.
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Perry, John.
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Phelan, Ann.
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Phelan, John Paul.
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Quinn, Ruairí.
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Rabbitte, Pat.
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Ring, Michael.
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Ryan, Brendan.
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Shatter, Alan.
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Sherlock, Sean.
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Spring, Arthur.
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Stagg, Emmet.
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Stanton, David.
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Tuffy, Joanna.
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Walsh, Brian.
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White, Alex.
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Tellers: Tá, Deputies Paul Kehoe and Emmet Stagg; Níl, Deputies Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
Question declared .
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