David Norris (Independent)

Country music was effectively dealt with the other day. The Government repeatedly says that it is seeking co-operation from this side of the House. We are not all Opposition Members — some of us are Independents. There is a willingness to co-operate but it is not reciprocated by the Government parties. The legislation was guillotined in the Dáil on Wednesday and a guillotine has been proposed today, although it may not be necessary. What co-operation does the Government expect if it guillotines significant legislation that is described as "emergency legislation"?

Before I attended the House to contribute on Second Stage yesterday evening, I spent time with a group that included a postgraduate who outlined the equivalent parliamentary procedure in Germany. In the German Parliament, if there is an extraordinary emergency, it might be able to rush legislation through in two or three weeks, but we do it in a day, which is daft, particularly when it is piecemeal.

I enjoyed a wonderful story that the Minister of State may have read, namely, The Grey Goose of Kilnevin, by one of our great unsung authors, the late Patricia Lynch. The characters had a magic shamrock, which should appeal to the Minister of State's nationalistic tendencies, and were in a cardboard aeroplane that had magically grown, but was beginning to disintegrate in mid-air. I do not know whether this accurate metaphor appeals to the Minister of State.