Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had expected to share but that's that is okay. I ask the Minister to seriously consider this. I know it is not his area and the Bill he has put in front of us today is important. However, his Bill is the second or third step in this process. I ask the Government today to look at the first steps in this process so fewer people or companies find themselves having to use the provisions in this Bill.

Seeing that I have the floor unexpectedly for a little bit of extra time, I want to put on record my serious concerns about an agreement that has been reached on the rota of speaking time in this House. I raise this issue as there is no other opportunity to discuss this because we will vote on it this evening without debate. The issue is not about the amount of time, because the d'Hondt system is being used and there is an element of fairness in that; it is about the rota and how one speaker follows another. I said previously that I had the opportunity to spend 15 years in the European Parliament and we used the d'Hondt system strictly. In that instance, we had the largest group followed by the next, right down to the smallest group, one after the other. After that, the rota system kicked in.

Members of this House, in Sinn Féin, for example, Deputy McDonald was in the Parliament at that time-----

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