Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Last Thursday we were told it was essential to have a Friday sitting, the implication being that the Government considered the Bill important. I ask whether it will apologise for giving that impression, in the light of the fact that it did not think it particularly important? The Tánaiste did not even consider the debate on the Bill to be important because he believed it to have a foregone conclusion. Will the Government think twice before providing for a Friday sitting on the agenda if it is not going to muster a quorum or if it gives the impression that the House is somehow irrelevant to its proceedings? That is the impression given to the people outside.

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