Vol. 426 No. 5
I move:
That Private Members' Business, No. 11, shall commence at 6 p.m. or as soon as possible thereafter and the proceedings thereon shall be brought to a conclusion at 8.40 p.m. tonight. Members may be called upon to speak as follows: the first 40 minutes, Opposition; the next 25 minutes, Government; the next 30 minutes, Opposition; the next 25 minutes, Government and Opposition, 7.55 p.m. to 8.40 p.m.
I move the following amendment:
"That all words in the Minister's motion after the words "No. 11" be deleted and that we continue with the normal arrangements for Private Members' time."
The Government has found it necessary to interfere with arrangements agreed last week for Private Members' time in order to compress the debate on Digital into one day. This is an important matter which is of great interest and concern to 2,000 families in Galway and many other families throughout the country. The fact that the Government has interfered with Private Members' Business on this motion suggests a lack of self-confidence on the Government's part in facing what should be a normal debate on a matter of great importance. I believe it is in the best interests of the House and of the workers in Digital that we be seen to discuss this over two days and that all Members should have an opportunity tomorrow to reflect and comment on what the Minister says tonight. For that reason, I urge that we continue with the normal arrangements for Private Members' Business.
If we followed the normal procedures we would start at 7 o'clock this evening and finish at 8.30 p.m. That would be the end of Private Members' Business.
No.
This should not give rise to argument.
It was agreed that an hour and a half would be allotted for discussion of this matter tomorrow. It is an extremely bad precedent for the Government to order Private Members' Business. This is the first time in my 25 years in the House that it has been done against the will of the Opposition. There were changes made in Private Members' time in the past, but they were always made by agreement. This is the first time they have not been agreed to. I believe this is a bad precedent because, if the Government does not want Private Members' Business, it will call for a vote and because it has a majority of 40 Members, it will always win.
That is melodrama.
