Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The Order of Business today is No. 1, a motion whereby the subject of motion No. 17 on today's Order Paper, concerning the reservation of 32 places in the first year of the bachelor of education course in the Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines, for students who are members of the Church of Ireland or belong to the broad Protestant tradition, is to be referred to the Joint Committee on Education and Science, to be taken without debate; No. 2, a motion which was referred to the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, which has completed its discussions, to be taken without debate; No. 3, a request that the Seanad adopt the report from the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges which it agreed at its meeting yesterday, giving it the power to act on behalf of Seanad Éireann and its Members in any legal proceedings, and which has been placed in the Oireachtas Library, to be taken without debate; No. 4, statements on the strategic rail review report, to be taken at the conclusion of the Order of Business and conclude not later than 1 p.m., with the contributions of spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and those of all other Senators not to exceed eight minutes, and on which Senators may share time, the Minister to be called upon to reply not later than ten minutes before the conclusion of statements, at approximately 12.50 p.m.; No. 5, statements on decentralisation, to be taken at 2 p.m. and conclude not later than 4 p.m., with the contributions of spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and those of all other Senators not to exceed eight minutes, and on which Senators may share time, the Minister to be called upon to reply not later than ten minutes before the conclusion of statements, at approximately 3.50 p.m.; No. 6, statements on rural development policy and actions with particular reference to the problems of population decline (resumed), to be taken at 4 p.m. and conclude not later than 6 p.m., with the contributions of spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and those of all other Senators not to exceed eight minutes, and on which Senators may share time, the Minister to be called upon to reply not later than ten minutes before the conclusion of statements, at approximately 5.50 p.m.; and No. 18, motion No. 30, to be taken from 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. There will be a sos from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.

We have been accustomed to Private Members' Business being taken between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. but representatives of the parties to whom I have spoken have said it is in order to postpone it to a later time today because the Private Bill from the Seanad is being taken in another venue from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.