Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

When legislation is supported by the House, there is no need for Deputies to continue to waffle about it. There was no need to provide for a guillotine on yesterday's Order of Business. Similarly, we oppose in principle the imposition of a guillotine on this significant Bill. The Department and the Minister do not know the full outworking of the separation of the various Departments. We will not be able to have a proper discussion on the Committee Stage amendments that have been tabled. The debate is being stifled. It is not a good principle. The Government gave a commitment not to impose guillotines. Sinn Féin opposes the imposition of guillotines. This is happening far too often. The Government is introducing guillotine after guillotine on debates. In some cases, no guillotine is required. It is wrong to ask us to conclude our debate on this legislation at 5 p.m. There is no reason we cannot stay here later, if required, to deal with the Committee Stage amendments that have been tabled. We should take Report Stage at a later date. That would give us time for the necessary consideration of the information the Minister will provide in response to our queries later today.

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