Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

The Government Whip appeared to have introduced a new regime of not guillotining legislation, which we welcomed. However, he recently appears to be reverting to type and guillotines are now a regular feature.

This Bill did not comply with the normal accepted regulations concerning the introduction of Bills. It was published just one day before going through Second Stage, which is not acceptable. Committee Stage just finished on Tuesday and the spokespersons are being asked to deal with 42 amendments in two hours. This amounts to approximately a minute and a half per amendment, which is not adequate. As it is an important Bill which affects the quality of life of a large number of people, we are asking that it be debated fully until the amendments are dealt with in the normal way. We do not accept the guillotine.

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