Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

Given the botched way in which the Government has dealt with the Immigration Bill and the way in which it has been rammed through both Houses of the Oireachtas in a short period of time, particularly given the concerns of the courts about these matters, we will oppose the Order of Business. We ask the Government to remove Nos. 2 and 3 from the Order Paper to allow more time. Yesterday evening an organisation made its concerns known to me about the wording of the Bill which was debated in the other House. As the Leader is aware, all these amendments will be grouped today so we will only be able to have discussions on grouped amendments. The matter has been badly handled by the Government. I do not blame the Leader or the Deputy Leader, but this matter has been badly handled by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and by the Government. We oppose the manner in which the Bill is being rammed through the House today.

I thank the Leader for putting No. 4 on the Order Paper. I welcome a debate on electronic voting. Will she confirm to the House that the Minister will be here today to take questions from all Members of the House on the veracity of the electronic voting procedure? We need questions and answers, not statements. I would be interested to hear the Leader's reply in that regard. We need detailed answers to the questions we and Members on the other side of the House have about this issue because this is a cross-party matter. Will the Leader give a firm commitment to the House that an order under our Constitution is not necessary to allow electronic voting on 11 June, but that primary legislation is required? When the matter was first debated some years ago it was with a view to implementing it for a trial period. Legal advice to this side of the House and to the Government is absolutely clear in indicating that primary legislation will have to be introduced if we are to have electronic voting by 11 June. When is that legislation due to come before the House? I ask the Leader to ensure we have a question and answer session today on the important debate she has wisely placed on the Order of Business.