Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

It is up to the person bringing forward the motion to ensure there is a quorum of ten Members. On occasion, I have seen a Member of the Opposition bring forward a motion when there were five Members of the Opposition in the Chamber and over five Members on the Government side and the business has continued. Therefore, it is wrong to say that business does not continue just because the person responsible to ensure the quorum is present does not have a quorum on his or her side.

On the issue of Taoiseach's questions, in the previous Dáil, these questions were allocated 45 minutes on one day and 30 minutes on the following day. Currently, the Taoiseach answers questions for one hour, 15 minutes less per week than previously. However, he makes up that time by coming in for statements on the European Council. This never happened previously and is a positive step forward. As I said to Deputy Collins, we now have Leaders' Questions on a Thursday also.

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