Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While Senator Norris may not be a father, he is the father of the House and, to be fair to him, he has been a father to all of us.

Senators Colm Burke and James Reilly raised the general practitioner contract, an important issue on which we need to have a debate.

I hope Senators will allow a change to the Order of Business next Tuesday and thank them in advance for doing so. The reason we are proposing to amend Tuesday's Order of Business is that the Seanad Public Consultation Committee will sit earlier to meet a number of witnesses who are unable to attend in the afternoon. It was envisaged that the committee would sit for the entire day and the Seanad would not sit. I thank Senators Mark Daly and Coghlan and Ms Bridget Doody who have done a great deal of work on the Seanad Public Consultation Committee. We had hoped the House would not sit on Tuesday but unfortunately certain witnesses could not appear on Tuesday afternoon. I propose, therefore, that Commencement matters will not be taken on Tuesday afternoon and the House will sit from 3.30 p.m. to facilitate the committee.