I will finish on this point. The statutory requirement to have Second Stage passed will extend to January of next year. Why is it proposed to have only two days of debate on Second Stage, and is it the intention of the Government to guillotine the finance Bill? Could the Taoiseach give an assurance that the finance Bill, which will give effect to the budget – another tough budget as he described it – will not be guillotined in this House on Second Stage?

It is the intention to give the same time period as finance Bills in previous years when discussions and block votes took place.

They were guillotined in previous years.

We did enough talking about it anyway.

We would like to be very clear about this; Ministers should be able to sit down with Opposition spokespersons and work out blocks of time for the individual sections of Bills. That could work very effectively as it did on a number of Bills recently.

The triggering of the inquiries Bill is now a matter for the Oireachtas. It is not a case of the Government wanting to dictate or direct to the Oireachtas what the composition of the inquiry should be, but it is something that requires very great care by those who will eventually participate in the inquiry. Once the Bill which has been signed is now triggered with a proposition that we have a banking inquiry, it is a matter for the Oireachtas and for the House. Clearly, the Committee on Procedure and Privileges has a function in the matter. I will not say what the composition of the committee should be or when it will sit but there are three important modules and the State will make available to the committee the resources and facilities of Departments and agencies to help it in its inquiry. I wish to make clear that there will not be a direction, instruction or compulsion from the Government about it; it is a matter now for the Oireachtas to decide on the exact type of inquiry that takes place.