Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

This is the first of eight guillotines the Government intends to use on business this week, which is not the way to conduct business or have legislation passed. Over the years, we have had many examples of Bills that were rushed in the final couple of weeks of the parliamentary session ending up being bad legislation. Time and again, problems have arisen in the courts as a result of unforeseen difficulties in such legislation, with the inevitable consequence that the Government, at a later stage, has been forced to produce amending legislation to correct the mistakes that have been made. This objection is altogether separate from the discourtesy the Government is showing the House in this matter.

While I am glad the Government has responded to the request made by Opposition parties last Thursday for a debate on the IMF and OECD reports on the state of the economy, the Government has shown a degree of cynicism in deciding to schedule the debate from 3.30 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday. While the Labour Party is pleased to participate in the debate and proposes to make a full contribution to it, the Government has shown parliamentary cynicism in choosing a time of the week when the House tends not to receive the public media attention it receives at earlier or more central parts of the week's business.

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