Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Mullen's proposed amendment in respect of No. 2. I will be moving my own amendment, that No. 3 be amended by the deletion of the second paragraph and the substitution of the following: "to be taken at the conclusion of No. 2 and that the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be adjourned after four hours." That leaves the same amount of time for discussion today, but it means that the guillotine will not come down. I formally protest the manner in which these three guillotines have been put before the House today. We have Leaders and Whips meetings and a consultation process which is supposed to warn the Members of this House of what is planned by the Leader of the House and the Government for the business of the House. No warning whatsoever was given to us that these matters would be guillotined. That is an abuse of the customs and conventions of this House. More than that, it is a deliberate insult to those people who want to discuss the Electoral Reform Bill 2022 and the Higher Education Authority Bill 2022, and amendments to them, at length, which is very important for our democracy.

When the Minister, Deputy Harris, came to this House, I asked that the Higher Education Authority Bill 2022 would not be rushed through. He nodded his head as if he agreed with me but, a week later, he is trying to guillotine this legislation through. It is highly important legislation and it has considerable implications for the control, direction and independence of higher education institutions for the next half a century. For it to be guillotined through this House in order to meet what the Government considers to be the deadline of the summer vacation of this House, for its convenience, is disgraceful. I will make it very clear that we will not agree to that and we will not agree to the implementation of the Order of Business to bring it about.