I move:
That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, or the Order of the Dáil of 10th September, 2020, and unless the Dáil shall otherwise order, the following arrangements shall apply in relation to the sittings of the Dáil on 13th, 14th and 15th October, 2020:
(1) (i) the Dáil shall meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, and at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday;
(ii) on Wednesday, the Dáil shall adjourn not later than 10 p.m.;
(iii) on Thursday, the Dáil shall adjourn on the conclusion of topical issues;
(iv) the Dáil shall meet in the Convention Centre Dublin on Tuesday and in Leinster House on Wednesday;
(v) Leaders’ Questions within the meaning of Standing Order 36 shall not be taken on Tuesday, and on Wednesday and Thursday shall be taken as the second item of business after Oral Questions;
(vi) there shall be no Order of Business on Tuesday within the meaning of Standing Order 35;
(vii) within the meaning of Standing Order 35, there shall be no questions on promised legislation on Tuesday or Wednesday;
(viii) Oral Questions to a member of the Government under Standing Order 46(1)(b) shall be taken on Wednesday and Thursday at 10.30 a.m.; otherwise no Oral Questions under Standing Order 46(1) shall be taken: Provided that written questions under Standing Order 50(2) shall appear on the Order Paper and be answered in the normal way;
(ix) private members’ business shall not be taken;
(x) topical issues under Standing Order 37 shall not be taken on Tuesday or Wednesday and shall be taken on Thursday as the last item of business;
(xi) leave may not be sought under Standing Order 42 to adjourn the Dáil on a specific and important matter of public interest;
(xii) no Committee report shall be taken on Thursday evening under Standing Order 159(2);
(xiii) any divisions demanded on Tuesday shall be taken immediately;
(xiv) the weekly division time shall be taken on Tuesday night, as outlined in paragraph (2)(iii); and
(2) in relation to the sitting of the Dáil on Tuesday, 13th October, 2020, the following arrangements shall apply:
(i) the Dáil shall sit later than 11.17 p.m. and the motion for the General Financial Resolution shall be moved not later than 12 midnight; and
(ii) subject to subparagraph (iii), the business to be transacted shall be the Budget Statements and Financial Motions by Deputy Pascal Donohoe, Minister for Finance, and Deputy Michael McGrath, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and the following arrangements shall apply:
(a) the Budget statements of Minister Donohoe and Minister McGrath shall not exceed 45 minutes each;
(b) following the Budget statements of the Ministers, statements may be made by the spokespersons on Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform for the parties and groups in Opposition in the following order and in accordance with the following arrangements:
— Sinn Féin – not exceeding 60 minutes in the aggregate, and
— the Labour Party, Social Democrats, Solidarity-People Before Profit, the Regional Group, the Rural Independent Group, and the Independent Group – not exceeding 45 minutes in the aggregate each,
and all members may share their time; and
(c) following the statements, the sitting shall be suspended for 30 minutes, and on the resumption of the sitting, a Minister or Minister of State shall move an allocation of time motion for the Financial Motions; and
(iii) upon the moving of the General Financial Resolution, the Motion re the National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019 shall be taken without debate, immediately followed by the weekly division time, and the Dáil shall adjourn forthwith, either on the conclusion of proceedings on the Motion re the National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019, or on the conclusion of the weekly division time, as appropriate; and
(3) in relation to the sittings of the Dáil on Wednesday and Thursday, 14th October and 15th October, 2020, the following arrangements shall apply:
(i) the 20-minute sanitisation SOS’s shall take place—
(a) on Wednesday, immediately following Leaders’ Questions and the Labour Party Leader’s statement, and
(b) on Thursday, immediately following Questions on Promised Legislation, and at 4 p.m.;
(ii) the business to be transacted shall be the business outlined in this Resolution along with the resumed debate on the General Financial Resolution, to which the following arrangements shall apply:
(a) on Wednesday—
(I) following the sanitisation SOS after Leaders’ Questions, Leaders’ speeches shall be taken, in the following order and in accordance with the following arrangements:
— Taoiseach and Tánaiste — not exceeding 30 minutes each;
— Green Party — not exceeding 20 minutes;
— Sinn Féin — not exceeding 30 minutes;
— the Labour Party — not exceeding 15 minutes;
— (following the sanitisation SOS) Social Democrats, Solidarity-People Before Profit, the Regional Group, the Rural Independent Group, and the Independent Group – not exceeding 15 minutes each,
and all members may share time; and
(II) the suspension of sitting under Standing Order 25(1) shall take place on the conclusion of Leaders’ speeches, and shall continue until 5.30 p.m.; and
(b) on Wednesday and Thursday—
(I) apart from the Leaders’ speeches, the resumed debate on the General Financial Resolution shall be conducted in 100-minute speaking rounds, in accordance with the arrangements contained in the report of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform adopted by Order of the Dáil on 30th July, 2020; and
(II) when there are no further members offering, the debate shall adjourn, and, in any event, on Thursday 15th October, 2020, the debate shall adjourn not later than 4 p.m.
