It is intended that today we will take Items Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 — if there is to be a debate on any of those items I suggest we should take the discussion in a broad sense and discuss the whole five together — Item No. 6, the Finance Bill, and the remaining part of the Fianna Fáil motion, No. 7.
Order of Business.
I should like to ask the Leader of the House through you, a Chathaoirligh, how much time is it proposed to allocate to the Finance Bill and when can we expect the Adoption Bill to be introduced?
I should like to ask the Leader of the House about the status of No. 39 on the Order Paper which has been put down in the past week. It is a motion in the name of Senator Paschal Mooney and other Fianna Fáil Senators and the signature of the Leader of the House is noticeably lacking. Is this a Fianna Fáil motion, or does it indicate that the Government are back-sliding on the issue of extradition, or is it a freelance effort on the part of Senator Mooney?
It is intended to take the Finance Bill until 6.30 p.m. and to take the motion from 6.30 p.m. to 8 o'clock, with no break this afternoon. Tomorrow we intend to take the Second Stage of the Finance Bill all day and to continue it, if possible, tomorrow evening. I am not giving any guarantees as to what time we will finish tomorrow evening.
Will we be here tomorrow?
I can asure Senator Ryan that we will be here tomorrow. There will be no curtailment of time, within reason, on the Finance Bill. On the question raised by Senator Ross about Item No. 39, the motion in the names of a number of Government Senators, the fact that my name does not appear on that motion has no political or any other significance. I just did not happen to be around when the motion was put down. If the Senator cares to go back to the record of when that Bill went through the Seanad, he will see that the sentiments expressed in that motion are the exact sentiments expressed by me during the debate on that Bill.
There will be a need for a Committee of Selection to meet today to discuss the selection of people for the committees which will be set up as a result of today's debate.
What time is it intended to meet?
The Whips will meet after the Order of Business.
Has the Senator any idea when the Adoption Bill will be taken? I think that was also a question.
The intention is that the Finance Bill will take precedence over any other Bill and that the Adoption Bill will be the next item once we get the Finance Bill through all Stages. I think it is reasonable that we should deal with the Finance Bill and I can guarantee that the Adoption Bill will be the first Bill taken after that.
I did not have an opportunity to speak to the Leader of the House about this. There are other Bills. If the Finance Bill concludes early tomorrow we will go on to the Adoption Bill. A few other Bills are urgent — the Urban Renewal (Amendment) Bill, the Labour Services Bills — and we will take them next week before we go back to the Adoption Bill.
Will not everything be clearer tomorrow?
Order of Business agreed to.