Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is not agreed. The Labour Party cannot agree to the Order of Business. It is not unusual in the final sitting week before the Christmas break that the Government would seek to use the guillotine and ram through many proposals but, by any standards, what is proposed for this week is extraordinary. Today a social welfare Bill is to be passed by 9 p.m. and the Government has produced 30 pages of Report Stage amendments for that Bill.

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