Alex White (Labour)

——if we have a meeting of that body soon. I will vary Senator Norris's suggestion. I am not sure whether it would serve us to have a debate along the lines of an extended Order of Business on the subject of the economy. While it is valuable for us all to speak, very often motivated by the events of the particular day or crisis, it would be much better to have such a debate structured in a different way from the kinds of debates we have in the Seanad. I ask the Leader to consider that idea. I am not demeaning the debates in any sense, but people on the Government side are constantly complaining about the absence of alternatives from this side of the House. We are constantly stating — accurately — that the Government is failing lamentably to come forward with any kind of concrete proposals of its own.

There is a impasse in that both sides say the other is not coming forward with anything concrete. We could challenge each other to come forward in a more serious way in the course of such a debate with the kinds of proposals we in the Labour Party are developing and open them up to scrutiny in the House. Surely that would be a more useful and productive use of time rather than the opportunity, which many of us relish, to stand up for five or ten minutes and make a speech which can be unconnected in many ways to what is said on the other side. It is something which might be tabled for consideration.

I know this is a short Order of Business. It seems that much of the legislation we have been dealing with has been emergency legislation. Almost every week we are debating emergency legislation but other mainstream legislation is ongoing. I have seen the schedule for next week. The Legal Services Ombudsman Bill is due to be debated on Tuesday. That Bill has come from the Dáil, so there is some excuse for the debate on Tuesday.

Regarding the Adoption Bill, however, I ask the Leader not to order all Stages of that Bill for next Wednesday. It is entirely inappropriate for a Bill such as that to be approached in that manner. Perhaps it is an error and something the Leader can address because it is in the draft schedule we received. I ask the Leader not to order all Stages of such important legislation on Wednesday. By all means take Committee Stage next week but not all Stages.