I call the Leader, who wishes to put a proposal to the House.
Business of Seanad
At the conclusion of this debate and the vote on the amendment, I propose that we suspend the sitting until 12.30 a.m. This is to facilitate us in dealing with some emergency legislation. I wish to tender to the House the apologies of the Minister, who was obliged to rush away two or three minutes ago in order to attend an important Cabinet meeting.
On a point of order, no one in this House has seen the emergency legislation to which the Leader refers. That is no way to do business either here or in the Dáil. With respect, I must inform the Leader that something similar happened in 2008 when legislation was rushed through. We all know the consequences to which that gave rise. It is not good enough for the Leader to announce that we are going to deal with legislation in the early hours of the morning without giving Opposition spokespersons a proper opportunity to scrutinise that legislation. The Government is rushing through legislation, which is exactly what Fianna Fáil did in 2008.
Senator Cullinane should resume his seat.
On a point of clarification-----
We will seek to provide the clarification the Senator is seeking when we conclude Private Members' business.
-----is the sitting to be suspended until 12.30 a.m., namely, 30 minutes past midnight?
That is not agreed.
We must return to and conclude Private Members' business before we dispose of that proposal. The length of the suspension will be decided by the House.
The Leader just put a proposal to the House which has not been agreed.
That proposal will be dealt with after Private Members' business has concluded.