Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I do not object to what the Chief Whip is proposing but I express concern over what is happening. When we met earlier today, we were given an initial timetable for the day's proceedings, which involved Question Time at 2.30 p.m. and Leaders' Questions at 3.30 p.m. We were given to understand that the Bill from the Minister for Finance to underpin the guarantee he is giving to the banks would be available to us at approximately 4 p.m. We were told then it would be available at 5.45 p.m. and that it was intended to postpone our sitting until approximately 7 p.m. We have not yet had sight of the Bill, nor have we been presented with the heads or an explanatory memorandum.

I appreciate and accept that the decision was made last night and that staff working on the legislation are working to a tight timeframe. It is a very major decision and the consequences and sums of money involved are huge. We therefore need time to consider it but we have not yet seen the Bill. My colleague, Deputy Joan Burton, has colleagues and advisers on stand-by to examine the Bill when we receive it such that we can consider it before its being debated in the House.

Will the Chief Whip state when it is expected that the Bill will be published and available to us? In the event that the Bill is not published by 6.30 p.m., the latest publication time I was given, which only gives us an hour to consider it, what are the Chief Whip's intentions with regard to sitting arrangements thereafter?

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