By agreement of the House, we will have statements on the present position of Government. I suggest ten minutes per person. Any Senator who wants to be make a statement will have an opportunity to do so. I suggest that we leave the debate open ended.
Order of Business.
In light of the fact that we have been given an opportunity to make statements, I am happy to withdraw the motion under Standing Order 29. I believe that if I had not placed this motion before the House and had agreed to adjourn sine die, as a result of the decision taken this morning, we would not have had the opportunity to make these statements.
The motion under Standing Order 29 is withdrawn.
I want to clarify a matter. Yesterday before the Order of Business we passed a vote of sympathy to the family of the late Senator and Deputy, Willie O'Brien. It has been indicated to me that some frivolous comments I made at the time were inappropriate. I accept that. It was not intended to cause any offence to Fine Gael or other colleagues. I just wanted to set the record straight.
Order of Business agreed to.