Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to move an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 8 be taken before No. 1. This concerns the Children (Amendment) Bill 2020. On the issue of voting for business next Tuesday, I appreciate the problems we face with accommodation, votes and the like. I have tried to be constructive, as has my group, on all of these matters. Some people feel that in these Covid days, we must make concessions on parliamentary procedure to facilitate the doing of business in safe circumstances in Leinster House. The recent experience with legislation on house parties shows that we cannot suspend the function of parliamentary scrutiny. I know these are matters for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, which is addressing these matters as a matter of urgency, but the Seanad must function constitutionally in the way it is intended. We must be in a position to look at legislation, not at a leisurely pace but in a businesslike way, by getting through our business. We must be in a position where the ordinary processes of this House function well. I know the Leader has run into difficulty because of a few deadlines in recent times, despite commitments that were made to the House on previous occasions, and that legislation has been guillotined and motions for early signature and the like have suddenly been put before us. We have a constitutional function to discharge. The rules and procedures of this House must reflect the urgency of our constitutional function. We cannot continue to keep cutting corners on the pretext of there being a Covid emergency. Therefore, the work that is being done by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to normalise our voting and sitting procedures should be expedited and this House should reach the position where it can use its Chamber in the civilised way we have been doing - sharing the accommodation in it but doing our work of scrutiny in a way that allows us to call votes on matters we think are of considerable importance.