Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As far as I understand it, there is agreement between the Whips not to have an Order of Business tomorrow for the good reason that we want to give an opportunity to party leaders, including myself, to give a statement to the House on the budget. A European Council meeting will take place tomorrow which the Minister for Finance and I must attend. We will have Leaders' Questions tomorrow morning and we are agreeing the Order of Business now for tomorrow. It should not be contentious.

On the guarantee scheme being brought to the House for approval by way of motion, I understand the detail of that is being worked out. The Whips intend to agree to have that business dealt with on Friday. It is important that it is addressed this week and it would all for the budget debate in the meantime. I do not believe it is possible to deal with the guarantee scheme on Thursday because the Minister for Finance may not be back on time.

See this speech in context