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

That may be it, Deputy Buttimer. That is my point. This is no response to what happened here last Thursday - if that is what it is all about. I hope it is not, because it is very silly thing to do. The motion on water is important. We will not be here until 8 p.m. on Thursday and the Taoiseach and the Government Chief Whip know that. Let us call a spade a spade. The Government can play things out and do things any way it wants, but many people talk about the lifestyle issues in the Dáil and doing our business in a sensible and orderly manner. There is no need to be here until 10 p.m. tomorrow night and no need to be here until 8 p.m. on Thursday night. All the Government is going to do is bring the House into disrepute, because it will be able to count the number of people who will be contributing to the motion.

Many Deputies could have Topical Issue matters they want to discuss and questions to which they want answers in the normal way. If we want to do our business properly, we should have regular order. We always have the Order of Business, Leaders' Questions and Question Time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There is no compelling urgency or rationale as to why we should change that this week. I welcome the fact that the issue of water will be debated tomorrow but the debate could be finished next week. There is no logic to this. It undermines credibility in this Dáil and marginalises it, which is a very serious thing to do given all that is happening in terms of democratic politics.

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