It is now 10 o'clock and time for the House to adjourn. Perhaps the Leader of the House will indicate his intention with regard to tomorrow's sitting.
Business of the Seanad.
I announced last week that I expected the Committee Stage of this Bill to be completed not later than Friday of this week. Judging by the slow progress we have made today, having only got through so many amendments, and having regard to the declaration of war made by Senator O'Quigley at the start of the debate, I feel that we must have adequate time to reach that target, and I intend to reach that target. Therefore, it is proposed, in order to ensure that Fine Gael speakers and the Labour Party speakers will have adequate time to put their cases, that the House meet tomorrow morning at 10.30 a.m. and sit until 10.30 p.m.
The proposal of the Leader of the House to meet tomorrow from 10.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. suggests that there is some kind of national emergency in the offing. I am not aware that there is such an emergency and I object most strenuously to having to sit from 10.30 tomorrow morning until 10.30 tomorrow night when there is not any emergency. I suppose it will be proposed that we do the same thing on Thursday and Friday?
Yes.
This seems to smack of a form of penalty. We decided as we do with every Bill, and as we have done with the Succession Bill——
I do not want to be here all during this long, hot summer.
There is no reason for that if the Minister will show some semblance of reasonableness——
They are howling and whinging; they have always a béal bocht. Professor Quinlan is always whinging about majority rule.
Is it not prescribed in the Standing Orders that we meet at 3 o'clock?
The Seanad can make its own decision as to when we meet.
By agreement.
There is nothing in the Standing Orders which says it is done by agreement; it is a matter for the House.
There is a great deal that is done by convention.
Contrary to what is implied by the Leader of the House, the Minister has said that he is not in any hurry with the Bill and that he is prepared to wait until the cows come home. I should be prepared to wait if there is a suggestion that we are holding up the debate. We had a full and fair debate. We have not attempted to drag it out and the Minister has given us a full contribution. Indeed, he has been somewhat more longwinded than we have been. There has been no suggestion that we have been dragging it out——
(Interruptions.)
The motion is that the House meet at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow. Is the motion agreed?
It is not agreed.
I put the question: "That the Seanad meet at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow".
Would the Chair state under which Standing Order he takes a division after 10 o'clock? There is no Standing Order to allow a division to be taken after 10 o'clock.
There is no Standing Order to prevent the House dividing on the question of when the House will meet.
On a point of order——
Senator McQuillan will resume his seat.
On a point of order——
Senator McQuillan will resume his seat.
I have resumed my seat and now I want to raise a point of order again. You have no regard for this House.
The question before the House is that the House meet at 10.30 tomorrow morning. I think the motion is carried.
It is not. The proposition put to us is that we meet from 10.30 tomorrow morning until 10.30 tomorrow night. That is not what we have been asked to vote on. I think the motion was improperly put. We should now consider the proposal put by the Leader of the House.
We have not left section 1 of the Bill yet and we have been here since 3 o'clock today.
We are on the amendments to section 3, as the Senator will know if he is awake. The Chair decided that we take the other amendments on section 3.
On a point of order, Sir, the motion, as I heard you putting it, was that the House should adjourn until 10.30 a.m. tomorrow. That is not the motion which I understood the Leader of the House to put. I should like to know whether he has amended his motion to eliminate the clause about the 12 hour sitting or, if not, who has put the motion.
The Leader of the House proposed: "That the Seanad do adjourn until 10.30 a.m. tomorrow and sit until 10.30 tomorrow night".
That is not the motion that was put to the House for a division. We cannot now vote on a different motion from the one put to the House. A Chathaoirleach, can I be heard on a point of order?
I am now putting the question.
There is a division on a different motion from that put to the House and on which a division was challenged. Are you prepared to hear me, a Chathaoirleach, on a point of order?
No, I am not prepared to hear the Senator at this juncture.
Question put.
The Seanad divided: Tá, 29
29; Níl, 2.
Tá
- Ahern, Liam.
- Boland, Gerald.
- Brennan, John J.
- Browne, Seán.
- Cole, John C.
- Connolly O'Brien, Nora.
- Dolan, Séamus.
- Eachthéirn, Cáit Uí.
- Egan, Kieran P.
- Farrell, Joseph.
- Fitzsimons, Patrick.
- Flanagan, Thomas P.
- Honan, Dermot P.
- Killilea, Mark.
- McGlinchey, Bernard.
- McGowan, Patrick.
- Martin, James J.
- Nash, John Joseph.
- Ó Donnabháin, Seán.
- Ó Maoláin, Tomás.
- O'Reilly, Patrick (Longford).
- Ormonde, John.
- Ryan, Eoin.
- Ryan, James.
- Ryan, Patrick W.
- Ryan, William.
- Sheldon, William A. W.
- Teehan, Patrick J.
- Yeats, Michael.
Níl
Tellers: Tá, Senators Browne and Farrell; Níl, Senators McQuillan and Murphy.
Question declared carried.
McQuillan, Jack.
Murphy, Dominick F.
The House is adjourned until 10.30 tomorrow morning.
The Seanad adjourned at 10.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. Wednesday, 2nd August, 1967.