Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When the schedule was published on Friday, no Leaders' Questions was scheduled for Thursday. Our Whip, on behalf of our party, protested strongly. This is undermining the Parliament and the Dáil, and confidence in and respect for the House. There is no compelling urgency about this issue. There is no reason the debate on water cannot take place this week and next week.

It is almost the anniversary of the guillotining of the Water Services Bill 2013. Has the Government learned anything? It should stop trying to ram things through the House because it might be convenient to do so. The Taoiseach is undermining respect for the Dáil, and I genuinely think we need to cop on and keep calm about debates. Legitimate demonstrations and protests are part of democracy. There should also be space for people to debate the water issue, as well as other issues, this week. Members may have wanted to raise Topical Issues, legislation on the Order of Business, various questions and so forth. This is shambolic in terms of how the business of the Dáil is being dealt with.

There should be a regular order, which no Government should be able to cast aside unless there is a real emergency. If there is an Order of Business on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, we should continue to have it. If it is agreed by the House to have Topical Issue debates on a regular basis, we should continue to have them. We should continue to have Question Time and Leaders' Questions. We can organise debates around that. There is no compelling urgency that I can see to finish the debate on water on Thursday at 8 p.m. The next big demonstration is on 10 December. I ask the Government to go back to the drawing board, allow normality to return and have the order of the House as it was.

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