Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I am asking for a response from the Taoiseach before agreeing anything on the Order of Business, which I am entitled to do.

I understand that the Government has decided to appeal yesterday's High Court decision to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that the holding of by-elections is a matter for the House. We know from what we have read in the newspapers that it is the Government's intention to hold the by-election in Donegal South-West and to oppose the holding of the by-elections in the other three constituencies. If the Government appeals the decision of the High Court to the Supreme Court it will prevent, I expect, the possibility of legal challenge to its refusal to hold the remaining three by-elections. The issue which will be-----

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