It is proposed to take No. 9, motion regarding Standing Order 83A; No. a21, statements on mother and baby homes; No. 21, Health Identifiers Bill 2013 [Seanad] - Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; and No. 1, Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill 2013 [Seanad] - Second Stage.

It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that No. 9 shall be decided without debate; No. a21 shall be taken today, and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 45 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: the opening speech of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and of the main spokespersons for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order, shall not exceed ten minutes in each case, such Members may share their time, and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed five minutes; Private Members' business shall be No. 150, motion re death and burial of children at mother and baby homes. Tomorrow's business after Oral Questions shall be No. 22, Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 - Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; No. 23, Protected Disclosures Bill 2014 - Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; and No. 1, Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill - Second Stage (resumed).

There are two proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 9 agreed? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. a21 agreed?

No, it is not agreed.

It is not agreed?

No. Can I have a minute to explain why we oppose the proposal?

It is normally the leader of a party who does so, but carry on.

We disagree with the proposal because 45 minutes is a derisory amount of time to give to such an issue. That is a minute for every year of abuse that took place. This issue is causing huge anger around the country. Major issues are at stake and major questions must be asked, including why this happened. Why did a weak, poverty-ridden capitalist State lean on the Catholic Church for legitimacy and support and tie the morality of the Church into the foundations of this State with the result that women and children born outside wedlock were given such appalling treatment? The State is made up of the political parties that are represented in this Chamber today. The State is largely culpable in this. We need a major debate, with all Deputies given the right to participate. Only ten minutes have been allocated to the Technical Group. Notwithstanding the Private Members' debate later, we believe that more Government time must be given to this debate. The time allowed is derisory for such an issue.

This is the first request made by Deputy Coppinger, and often one does not have one's request approved. However, I have no objection to the continuation of this debate next week. Obviously, a time slot has been set for this week, which was agreed at the Whips' meeting. There will be another Whips' meeting tomorrow, so if Deputies wish to consider an extension of the time until next week, I have no objection.

On a point of order, there was not a Whips' meeting on this matter.

That is correct; there was no meeting. It was agreed at the Cabinet meeting this morning.

My apologies: it was agreed at Cabinet this morning. We can set aside more time next week.

Has the objection to the proposal for dealing with No. a21 been withdrawn?

Yes. That is fine.