Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

These are exceptional times. I will raise a point of order if that is how the Ceann Comhairle wishes me to proceed. There is a constitutional procedure for dealing with legislation. Under Standing Orders, legislation is required to be published. That is the First Stage of a Bill and we cannot proceed beyond that. That is the way it is. If the Government cannot meet the deadline, that is okay. The Taoiseach has expressed his regret and apologised to the House. I will not make a big deal of that. I do understand that the people who have been dealing with this matter were up all last night and are working under much pressure. I wish to make a second point, however, which is probably more important. All of us understand that how this plays outside the House is a lot more important than how it plays in here. If we start debating a Bill at 10 p.m. and spend two hours on Second Stage, we will then proceed to Committee Stage. There will be a lot of debate about some of the content of what I have seen in the draft. We could find ourselves at 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning with the news headlines both here and in other capitals relaying the news that the Irish Parliament has not yet agreed the financial rescue Bill for the banks. We must reflect on how that will play outside the House. I suggest to the Taoiseach that it would perhaps be wiser for us to agree a procedure whereby we may deal with Second Stage tonight and have Committee Stage tomorrow, so that there is a sense that we are on top of it and we do not have another Capitol Hill situation.

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