the House of Assembly's last session has reappeared on the Order Paper.

However, the motion, which argues that it is against international law for dual-nationality Bermudians to be barred from sitting in Parliament, will not be debated today.

Instead Parliamentarians will concentrate their efforts on debating two take-note motions, said Government Whip Rick Spurling.

First, MPs will discuss the Report of the Task Force on Women's Issues before switching their attention to the Report of the Consumer Protection Task Force.

Shadow Health Minister Renee Webb's motion calls for a message to be sent to the British Government expressing the House's disapproval of a discriminatory section of Bermuda's Constitution.

Clause 30 1 (a) of the Constitution questions Dr. Ewart Brown's position as a sitting MP for the Progressive Labour Party in Warwick West.

It states: "No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a member of the Legislative Council or elected as a member of the House of Assembly who is by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.'' Ms Webb says the clause discriminates against born Bermudians and therefore contravenes international law and should be deleted.

It is at odds with Article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, she claimed.

Ms Webb said her goal was to have the British Government remove it.

The motion will force the matter to be debated in the British Parliament no matter what the outcome of the debate in the House of Assembly.

Dr. Brown's opponents argue that his oath of allegiance to America disqualified him from sitting in the House according to a literal reading of Clause 30 1 (a).

In June, PLP MP Alex Scott failed to get a motion -- to enable born Bermudians who have become citizens of other countries to sit in the House of Assembly -- passed. Government MPs defeated it by a vote of 16-15.

When Ms Webb attempted to have the motion heard on December 5, Government MPs launched a furious objection prompting House Speaker Ernest DeCouto to hold a vote on whether the motion should go ahead or be scrapped from the order paper altogether.

During the vote the Opposition MPs left the House.

Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Quinton Edness argued that Government did not wish to debate the motion because it had not been given enough notice of the debate.

He offered to have the motion carried over but the Opposition objected, lost the vote and the debate was dropped from the order paper.

The Opposition exodus left one half of the House completely empty for the final 15 minutes of the Parliamentary Session.

The Task Force on Women's Issues found women, who make up the majority of the work force and are generally better educated than men, earned on average $10,000 a year less than their male counterparts.

It also found that schoolgirls are still guided toward traditionally female jobs, while single mothers often exist in the poorest sections of society.

The task force made 190 separate recommendations, including emergency housing for women, equal pay and equal opportunities legislation.

The Consumer Protection Task Force was set up in October, 1996, to review five main areas -- consumer product and service safety, misleading advertising, trade descriptions, unfair trade practices and debt collection.

Among its recommendations it called for the Consumer Affairs Board to be given specific powers to provide guidance for businesses, investigate complaints and take legal action.

It also found legislation to be inadequate and discovered a need for the Island's consumer protection law to be brought in line with other jurisdictions.