Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

As the Deputy is aware, the House is sitting a lot longer this year than it has ever done to deal with several items of legislation. The placing of the guillotine is to ensure we get through all the legislation we need to have enacted. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, as it has turned out in practice the guillotine, while it has been provided for on the Order of Business, has not been used, certainly in recent weeks. I propose to leave it in place but I suggest to Deputy Ó Snodaigh and to other Whips that they might seek to reach agreement with the Government Whip on the timetabling of legislation to ensure we get it through the House. As we are making orders here for both today and tomorrow, I propose to leave it in place.

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