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Seanad Éireann debate -
Friday, 30 Oct 1992

Vol. 134 No. 8

Order of Business.

On today's Order of Business it is proposed to take items Nos. 1 to 5. Notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders the following arrangements will apply. In relation to the proceedings on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Stages of items Nos. 1, 2 and 3 the proceedings shall be brought to a conclusion in accordance with the following timetable and where the proceedings have not concluded by the stated time they shall be brought to a conclusion by one question in each case which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in relation to the amendments, include only amendments set down or accepted by the Minister for Justice. The suggested timetable is: the Thirteenth Amendment will be dealt with between now and 11.30 a.m.; the Fourteenth Amendment will be dealt with from then until 12.30 p.m. and the Twelfth Amendment will be dealt with from then until 3 p.m. with a sos from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

In relation to item No. 4, the Referendum (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 1992, the contribution of each Senator on the Second Stage debate shall not exceed ten minutes and proceedings on all Stages of this Bill and on the motion of concurrence with the Early Signature of the Bill by the President, if not previously concluded, shall be brought to a conclusion at 4 p.m. today by one question which shall, in relation to the amendments, include only amendments set down or accepted by the Government.

I have no difficulty with these arrangements partly because I think everything that has to be said on this has probably been said by now, especially since nobody is listening, so the arrangements are all right with me.

In the event of these Bills being passed today — and that of course is not a certainty, given that the Senators who took one small step yesterday by staying in their places might take one large step today and cross the floor — so the Bills might not necessarily be passed but if they are passed when does the Leader of the House expect that they will be signed by the Presidential Commission?

I have no major problem with the ordering of business. I suggest however, that we do not have a sos from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.; it seems a very long sos. We had a sos yesterday for half-an-hour. I think half-an-hour is quite adequate and it would give us a little more time to deal with the major item, which is the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill. Either we have no sos or we simply have a half-hour-sos.

In view of what the Leader said, I presume that when one item is finished we will automatically move to the next. I propose that the Whips discuss the sos.

I have waited since Wednesday to give this information to Senator O'Toole. I have an autographed copy of the up-to-date schedule for Shannon Airport.

That is not relevant to the Order of Business.

Is it proposed to clear the Order Paper before the general election?

Given that we will deal with all the business today, the Presidential Commission will sign the order at 5 p.m. today. If we conclude any item earlier than proposed in the timetable we will move to the next item. With regard to the sos we will discuss that later.

Order of Business agreed to.
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