I move:
That in the case of the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 1973 the remaining Stages of the Bill shall be proceeded with as follows:
(a) The proceedings on the Committee Stage (resumed) of the Bill if not previously concluded shall be brought to conclusion at 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 2nd April, 1974 by putting from the Chair forthwith and successively any Questions necessary to bring the proceedings to conclusion. Provided that after the said hour on that day no Question shall be put from the Chair on any amendment save an amendment put down by a Member of the Government and the Question on such an amendment shall be in the form, That the amendment be made; and after the appointed time notwithstanding the Instruction of 19th February 1974 to the Committee the Question to be put from the Chair to bring the proceedings on the Committee Stage of the Bill forthwith to conclusion shall be (as the case may require) That the Section/the Sections (as amended, if amendments have been made) stand part of and that the Schedule (as amended, if amendments have been made) and the Title be the Schedule and the Title to the Bill.
(b) The Fourth Stage of the Bill shall be proceeded with immediately upon the conclusion of the Committee Stage and the Proceedings on that Stage if not previously concluded shall be brought to conclusion at 9.30 p.m. on that day by putting from the Chair the Questions necessary to bring the proceedings to conclusion; and after the appointed time no Question shall be put from the Chair on any amendment save an amendment put down by a Member of the Government and the Question on such an amendment shall be in the form. That the amendment be made.
(c) The Fifth Stage of the Bill shall be proceeded with immediately upon the conclusion of the Fourth Stage and the proceedings on that Stage if not previously concluded shall be brought to conclusion at 10.15 p.m. on that day by putting from the Chair forthwith the Questions necessary to bring the proceedings to conclusion; and after the appointed time no Question shall be put from the Chair on any amendment save an amendment put down by a Member of the Government and the Question on such an amendment shall be in the form, "That the amendment be made".
I should like to say a few words in support of this motion in reply to the many things that were said by the Minister for Local Government over the past weeks and I may, perhaps, be allowed to begin by adverting to something the Leader of the Opposition said here last week: he said he could see no urgency in this Bill and, in particular, he said that there was no whitewashing to be done because there did not seem to be much legislation lined up behind it.
The present situation is that there are six Bills before the House in one shape or another, ready for processing, as Deputy Lenihan used to say. They are the Trade Union (Amalgamations) Bill; the Control of Importation, Sale and Manufacture of Contraceptives Bill; the Food Standards Bill and the Finance (Taxation of Profits of Certain Mines) Bill. All these Bills will be ready after the Easter Recess for Second Stage. There are two further Bills—the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Bill and the Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill—the Second Stages of which have been passed and they are now ready for Committee Stage. I do not need to tell the House that the Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill is a very long piece of work. For the Committee Stage the Opposition have put down a large number of amendments and we can anticipate several days will be occupied on this debate.
In addition to that, the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill are routine pieces of legislation which follow the budget. I am sure the House will agree with me that in that list of eight Bills we will have more than enough to keep the House occupied flat out until the end of July. That is a fair load of work and I hope that that recital will sufficiently rebut what the Leader of the Opposition said here and implied and which, of course, has been faithfully echoed by the unthinking Press over the past months.