Brendan Ryan (Labour)

When it is proposed to guillotine a Bill, a motion to that effect should appear on the Order Paper rather than assuming that because the Bill is due to finish at 4 p.m., a plethora of matters that are not written down come into play.

Since I was first elected to this House I have attended a considerable number of constitutional amendment debates. I do not recall any contentious ones having been guillotined, nor do I recall many where it was imperative to finish the debate in one day.

The Referendum Commission has placed a half-page advertisement in this morning's newspapers concerning the arrangements for a referendum which has not yet been approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas.