Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Ceann Comhairle knows it is not agreed. Amendment No. 4 of 43 is being discussed at present and some of the amendments tabled have very serious import. Yesterday, I made the point that the guillotine has been used on 18 Bills out of 21 in the final four weeks of this session and four of those Bills have potential constitutional implications, namely, the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill, the Defamation Bill, the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill and the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill.

This is obviously difficult because people are outraged at what is happening on the streets in some of our towns and cities. At the same time, there is a need for this legislature to be able to debate thoroughly the amendments involved. The House should sit next week to deal with this matter. I oppose the guillotining of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill in the way proposed by the Government. It is much too serious to be just one of 18 Bills rammed through by guillotine in the final four weeks of the session.

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