Dún Laoghaire): I move:
That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders and until the adjournment of the Dáil for the Christmas recess:—
(1) The Dáil shall sit later than 9 p.m. and not later than 11 p.m. and business shall be interrupted at 10.30 p.m. on a Tuesday where due notice had been given of a proposal to move on that day a motion as provided for in paragraph (2) of this Resolution.
(2) Between 8.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. on such Tuesdays business shall be confined to motions to take note of Reports laid before the Dáil (provided that a member of the Government may move, without notice, at the commencement of public business, that Government business shall be taken between 8.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. Such motion shall be decided without amendment) and the following arrangements shall apply to such business:
(a) All motions shall be in writing, signed by not less than seven members, and shall reach the Clerk not later than 11 a.m. on the fourth day preceding that on which they are to be put on the Order Paper, not reckoning a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.
(b) Amendments to such motions shall be in writing, signed by not less than seven members, and shall reach the Clerk not later than 11 a.m. on the second day preceding that on which the motion is to be put on the Order Paper, not reckoning a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.
(c) The ordinary routine of business shall be as follows:—
Motions to Take Notes of Reports
(i) Adjourned motions given priority under subparagraph (e) of this paragraph;
(ii) Notices of motions relating to Reports of the Committee on Public Expenditure;
(iii) Notices of motions relating to Reports of other Oireachtas Committees;
(iv) Notices of motions relating to other Reports.
(d) The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to—
(i) Presidency conclusions of European Councils, communiqués or statements following meetings at Head of State or Government level which have been the subject of a statement by a Member of the Government to Dáil Éireann; and
(ii) Arbitration Reports.
(e) Should the debate on a motion be adjourned, the adjourned proceedings on such motion shall, unless the Dáil shall otherwise order, be given priority over motions which have not been moved.
(f) The time allowed for the debate on a motion other than a motion relating to a Report of the Committee on Public Expenditure, shall not exceed a period of two hours in the aggregate. At the expiration of the said period, if the proceedings have not been concluded, the Ceann Comhairle shall put forthwith the question or questions necessary to bring to a conclusion the proceedings on the motion and on any amendment thereto.
(g) The time allowed for the debate on a motion relating to a Report of the Committee on Public Expenditure, shall not exceed a period of three hours in the aggregate. At the expiration of the said period, if the proceedings have not been concluded, the Ceann Comhairle shall put forthwith the question or questions necessary to bring to a conclusion the proceedings on the motion and on any amendment thereto.
(h) Each speech in the course of the debate on a motion shall not exceed ten minutes; the member proposing a motion shall be entitled to ten minutes for a speech in reply; and members may speak more than once if time permits.
(i) (i) The Ceann Comhairle shall, where a division has been demanded on any question put pursuant to subparagraph (f) or (g) of this paragraph, postpone the taking of such division until 8.30 p.m. on the next Wednesday on which the Dáil shall sit until that hour.
(ii) At 8.30 p.m., any business then under consideration shall be interrupted to take every such division. If the division is on an amendment, the Ceann Comhairle shall proceed, after the declaration of the result of the division, to put forthwith and successively the questions necessary to bring the proceedings to a conclusion. Where more than one division has been postponed, the divisions shall be taken in the chronological order in which they were postponed.
(j) Each Report laid before the Dáil shall be listed on the first Order Paper published after its receipt and on the Order Paper published on the following four Tuesdays on which the Dáil shall sit pursuant to paragraph (1) of this Resolution. The Report shall then be removed from the list on the Order Paper, together with any motion relating thereto which had not been moved. A motion comprehended by this Resolution may not be put down where the Report to which it relates had been removed from the aforementioned list.
(3) The Order of the Dáil of 21st June, 1983, relating to debating of reports of the Committee on Public Expenditure is hereby rescinded.