It is proposed to take Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 in that order. It is proposed to suspend the sitting from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. for tea. It is proposed to take No. 8 from 6.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. As has already been agreed by the Whips, if Government legislation has been started before 5.30 p.m. and not completed, we will continue with that from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. I would like to advise the House that the Social Welfare Bill, which is being circulated and which is at present before the other House, must become law before a certain period of time elapses. It is proposed to take Second Stage next Wednesday, 19 March, and to take Committee Stage on Tuesday, 25 March. It is our intention to sit in Holy Week on Tuesday, 25 March, and possibly Wednesday, but not on Holy Thursday.
Order of Business.
If item No. 5 is begun before 5.30 p.m. will it continue after 8 p.m.?
Yes, that is so.
On a point of order, I would like to raise a matter which is of great concern to me and I am sure to many other Senators. Today for the fourth time since prior to Christmas, I went to the post office in the House to send a telegram and was refused. I am now going into my seventeenth year in this House and I have had that facility all my life except for the last three——
Senator, your are 17 years in the House, and I think it is a matter for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
The trouble about it is — and I am not one to argue — that I believe that some Senators have the facility and others do not. I will let other Senators speak for themselves. I think it is wrong——
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
Will you please resume your seat, Senator, and let the Committee on Procedure and Privileges deal with it?
Three months is a long time to expect the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to move on this particular matter. I requested through the normal channels over three months ago that something be done but I do not accept that it is being done. I regret to have to say this to the House. It is a privilege I had in this House from the first day. No civil servant in this House has a right to take such a privilege away from me. I say this without any fear or favour. I would ask that the Leader of the House comment on it.
I want to assure you that there are more Members in this House concerned with this matter that Senator Killilea has raised. Three months is certainly a long time for a decision to be made.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
If I have the nerve to ask Senator Killilea to sit down, I will ask you also, and leave the matter with me, please.
I thought that the Deputy Leader of the House might comment on it.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
I will ask him now.
It is a matter which should properly be dealt with by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, but it is an important matter for us as well. All of us should defend the rights of public representatives. We should have the facility that has always been afforded to us. I intend to pursue it actively, now that Senator Killilea has brought it to my attention that he has been refused the facility. I think nobody, except for the regulations, would preclude us from exercising that privilege. At least, we should be notified by some authorised officer if a decision was made to implement regulations that we were unaware of. I promise Senators Killilea and Lynch that I shall try to further the cause in the interest of all of us. It is appropriate that we should have this facility. Certainly, we have never abused it, to my knowledge, and therefore it should not be withdrawn.
As a House, we certainly have not abused it.