Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refute Senator Thomas Byrne's contention that the Bill is being guillotined; it is not being guillotined. I explained what was agreed on the Order of Business. We will break for an hour after Second Stage, we will then take Committee Stage and, if necessary, we will break for another period before Report Stage. The Minister was quite willing to come to the House tomorrow, as was everyone, to deal with this matter if it was necessary but the fact that only 30 amendments were tabled for Committee Stage suggested that we could deal with them today. I think that clarifies the matter. I thought explaining it once on the Order of Business would have been sufficient for Senator Byrne, but obviously it was not.

I would like to comment on the suggestion of my colleague opposite, Senator Kathryn Reilly, that the Government is bullying workers. Sinn Féin would know more about bullying than many parties in this House.