Is the proposal for dealing with No. 5, Committee and Remaining Stages of the Social Welfare Bill 2012, agreed to?

It is not agreed. We oppose the proposal as it makes a farce of the House. It is now almost 11.30 a.m., yet the proposal is to ram through and guillotine Committee and Remaining Stages of the Social Welfare Bill by 2.30 p.m. This allows but two and a half hours for meaningful discussion on the cut to the respite care grant, which is having a heavy impact, the cut to child benefit and the removal of the PRSI exemption. With regard to the removal of the PRSI exemption, a person earning €25,000 will be hit by a 36% increase while a person on €175,000 will be hit by a 3% increase. How can that be fair? We will have no chance to discuss that at all. There will be no chance to discuss the cuts to the jobseeker's benefit, lone parent allowance and farm assist payment. The cut to the latter benefit is very serious for many farmers on the farm assist scheme across the country.

My point is that all of these measures have not yet been discussed on Committee Stage.

Order, please.

The proposal before the House is that every one of these items should be subject to meaningful discussion. These are the issues about which people outside the House are most concerned right now. They are the issues on which Labour Party and Fine Gael Deputies have been suggesting counter-proposals and alternatives in the media.

They were caused by Fianna Fáil.

They were telling their Ministers they wanted the proposed measures changed in favour of alternatives. Nobody is getting an opportunity in this House to discuss the measures.

I ask for brief contributions.

Let me make this point, because it goes to the heart of what this House is meant to be about.

If the Deputy had a heart-----

If Deputy Durkan had a head, he would be dangerous.

People came into government saying there would be a democratic revolution, no less. That is what the Tánaiste said.

Could we have order? Only brief contributions are allowed. We are not discussing the detail. I ask Deputy Martin to conclude.

The reason this is happening is that the Government does not want a discussion on these items.

Nor does Deputy Martin.

It does not want the Dáil to have any meaningful discussion, cut by cut. It wants to suppress dissent in its own ranks and ram the legislation through as quickly as it possibly can without regard to the public, who would actually like to hear from Deputies on the cuts. The public will not get that chance.

Let us have order, please. I call Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

The stage is Deputy McDonald's.

We, too, object to the guillotining of this very important debate. It is obviously the tactic of the Government to rush these matters through the Dáil to spare the blushes of the Labour Party, in particular, and those of Fine Gael Members with a conscience who might feel some discomfort. It is unacceptable-----

Order, please.

-----that cuts to carers, parents and children would be rushed through in such a glib and a cynical fashion. That is what the Members opposite all stand accused of now - complete and utter cynicism.

I know the Tánaiste is not going to change his mind on the guillotining of the debate because God forbid some of his people, in particular, might think better of what they are about to do. He should allow a full and frank debate on this. These cuts will hurt people and damage their standard of living and their lives. It is only two weeks to Christmas and this is the Christmas gift from this awful Government-----

You have cancelled Christmas.

-----to carers, women and mothers.

Thank you, Deputy. I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

We object to the guillotining of the debate and ask the Tánaiste to reconsider it.

Order, please.

Earlier the Tánaiste rightly or wrongly ridiculed some of the Opposition for not fully scrutinising the supplementary health budget at the health committee, and I was not at the health committee, and now-----

You did not call for a vote.

Does the Deputy have to call a vote to close hospitals or do you understand anything? You are a pity.

Billy was caught napping.

Order, please. Deputies, could we have less cross-fire and allow Deputy Boyd Barrett to proceed?

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. In his comments criticising the Opposition for the points they made, the Tánaiste said Deputies should do their job in scrutinising legislation and yet he is denying Deputies in this House the opportunity to scrutinise fully this legislation. That is as clear as day.

He has done a U-turn.

With the time the Tánaiste has allowed for the debate and the guillotine that will be imposed on it, we simply will not get to discuss some of the most substantive issues-----

The Deputy is wasting time.

-----in this Bill that will affect the lives of struggling families, families affected by disability, children and women. That is an affront to democracy. It is an affront to the Tánaiste's promises for a new type of politics. It gives an opportunity, as we saw last night, for the Minister to filibuster on less important issues, to talk down the clock in order that we do not get to the substantial issues. The Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, can smile-----

I am looking at the clock. It is the Deputy's clock.

-----wryly all he likes, the truth is-----

The Deputy is talking down the clock.

-----from the moment the Government imposed the guillotine on the debate it became impossible to have a serious debate on the amendments that have been put forward-----

The Deputy does not want a serious debate.

-----which could obviate the need to impose these brutal cuts.

Thank you, Deputy.

We have proposed alternative PRSI measures, fair measures, which would take the burden off people on low and middle incomes, off the unemployed and so on.

Keep filibustering.

Deputy Boyd Barrett, we are not debating the Bill now.

I ask the Tánaiste to lift the guillotine on the debate and allow it to take place.

I call the Tánaiste to reply.

We provided additional time yesterday but the Opposition used it up in political gamesmanship. We provided an additional sitting on Friday last and there were not enough Opposition speakers to keep it going.

Hear, hear.

Order, please. Allow the Tánaiste to conclude.

We provided for an additional day's sitting this week on Monday and it had to be cancelled because the Opposition could not fulfil it.

That is irrelevant. That is a red herring.

That is outrageous.

There was a period of time yesterday evening in the course of the debate when there was no Fianna Fáil Member in the House.

We took up our allocation.

We took up our entire allocation.

The Members opposite should not be looking for additional time-----

That is ráiméis.

-----when they cannot fulfil the obligation. This is great for a grandstand on the Order of Business.

There is no grandstanding------

The Opposition keeps looking for extra time and it does not fulfil it.

That is outrageous. The Tánaiste should be ashamed of himself. He calls himself a democrat.

You were not here.

Where was the Deputy on Friday? Where was he on Monday?

The Tánaiste should be ashamed of himself.

Order, please. The Tánaiste to conclude.

I am responding to the issues that were raised.

Ask the troika can we have time for the debate.

The Opposition keeps asking for additional time in the House and when we provide additional time the Opposition does not come in and use it.

You just made a big fuss about the health Estimate and you did not even vote on it at committee.

On a point of Order-----

I am about to put the question.

On a point of order-----

I did not see the Deputy.

The Tánaiste has seriously misled the House in what will go down-----

That is not a point of order.

-----as one of the most cynical, dishonest remarks he has made. Our party participated fully in the debate last evening. What everybody in this House wants is more time to discuss the Social Welfare Bill. Do not throw in any more red herrings or comments about other debates last Friday or Monday. It is dishonest and cynical and the Tánaiste's credibility is in shreds given the contempt in which he is holding and treating this House. It is contemptuous.

Thank you Deputy.

With all that has gone on here about democratic reform, the Tánaiste meant nothing of it.

What an actor.

It has been politically fraudulent behaviour by the Tánaiste for the last couple of years. He is a political fraud.

Why was the Deputy not like that with Bertie-----

You closed Roscommon hospital.

Everything was "Yes Bertie, No Bertie"-----

The Deputy stayed on the train and it had stopped.

Is the proposal for dealing with No. a1 agreed to?

No. The House is being treated in an appalling manner. There is no doubt what the dominant question of the week is. It should be the Social Welfare Bill. In a constructive manner, I suggest the Credit Union Bill and the Equal Status (Amendment) Bill be put back to next week. Having Question Time this evening at 8.45 p.m. is farcical.

In the Deputy's time we would have finished today and gone away on our holidays.

Order, please.

Deputy Paul Kehoe would have been the first out the door back then.

This shows the Government's arrogance.

In Deputy Micheál Martin's time we would have finished today.

No. There was many a time when the Chief Whip was given extra hours for debates when he was in opposition.

Check the record.

Pity Deputy Micheál Martin did not spend as much time debating when he was in government.

Order, please.

We are fundamentally opposed to the entire schedule. Having Question Time at 8.45 p.m. is ridiculous. It is an appalling organisation of the business of the House. The only issue that matters for the people is the Social Welfare Bill. People would logically think the House would be given a reasonable timeframe to discuss the measures included in that Bill. That is all we are asking for on this side of the House. We are looking for a reasonable amount of time to discuss, amendment by amendment, the issues to do with child benefit.

That matter was decided by the Whips.

Will the Deputy stop acting the bully, as he does all the time here? He is at it all the time. He does not run the House.

I am terrified.

I make a plea to the Tánaiste to reorganise the schedule to have the Social Welfare Bill as the main item for debate for the remainder of the day.

We want to help Government backbenchers.

Deputy Mattie McGrath wants to raise a point of order.

Hurray.

On a point of order, I think the Tánaiste has misinformed the House. I was here last Friday when the Government Whip said there would be no sitting on the following Monday. He accused the Opposition, but it was he who cancelled the sitting. The Tánaiste should correct the record.

It is like an audition for a pantomime.

The Minister would have the lead role in it.

The points have largely been made. However, I make one last appeal to the Tánaiste not to play the political games that he accuses us of playing when, in fact, he is playing them.

The Deputy plays them all the time.

It was the Government's decision to allocate 20 hours to the Savita Halappanavar debate.

The Deputy is wrong.

That side of the House needs a new Whip.

Order, please.

That was not asked for on this side of the House. It is now apparent that it was a cynical manoeuvre on the Government's part to truncate the time allowed to debate the budget and the Social Welfare Bill.

It was agreed to by the Whips, including the Deputy's Whip.

All we are asking for is for the Government to adjust the Order of Business to allow sufficient time to discuss the specific provisions included in this Bill and the amendments submitted by the Opposition in order that we have an opportunity to scrutinise all aspects of the Bill as we are supposed and obliged to do in the House. The Government is preventing us from doing this.