Fury in the corridors of power as Greens in dark over remaining bills before Dail end

David Corcoran has just posted the following on politics.ie ...

"Earlier on today I was asked here what bills were outstanding before the Government (sorry the Dáil!) ends the legislative year. Here they are:

Merchant Shipping Bill
Health Miscellaneous Provisions Bill
Carbon Bill
Social Welfare Bill
Udaras Na Gaeltachta Bill
Head Shops Bill
Prescriptions Bill
Roads Bill
The Health Amendment Bill

This was brought to Politics.ie's attention as a result of a press release by Fine Gael, who were pointing out that the three pieces of legislation that Minister for the Environment John Gormley said yesterday were most important to him would be passed before the Summer. They were:

The Wildlife Amendment Bill
The Dog Breeding Establishment Bill
and
The Bill providing for the Dublin Directly-Elected Mayor

Now, I can see the difference there, and I'm sure you can too. None of the bills pointed out by Gormley yesterday are on the legislative agenda for the few weeks before the Dáil takes a long holiday.

As it turns out, and a few people have told me this, the first John Gormley found out about this was when he got a copy of Phil Hogan's press release earlier. To say he's furious is probably, considering his comments yesterday, an understatement, and I've been told that he's demanding time with Cowen immediately to discuss this.

I pointed out earlier that I thought things were about to get interesting, they probably aren't, but certainly there are some people who are very unhappy today.

The Government Chief Whip has criticized the release of the list bills by Fine Gael, saying that it was a partial and internal document only for consideration by the party whips. John Curran (the Gov Chief Whip) in a statement said that Fianna Fail and the Greens were working to fulfil all of their "legislative commitments"."

This is getting interesting. Gormley has every right to be furious over this. He promised the Wildlife Amendment Bill, the Dog Breeding Establishment Bill, the Bill providing for the Dublin Directly-Elected Mayor would be passed before Summer recess. He promised this yesterday. He has now been made look like a fool and a liar by Brian Cowen.

What will Gormley and the Green's do about this? Probably nothing, but lest see ...