Is No. 4, the proposal that the Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 13 January 2016, agreed to?

No. I would like clarification from the Tánaiste before this is agreed.

The Deputy should go home.

Why is the Dáil not being brought back at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 12 January? The provision proposed today conveniently allows the Taoiseach escape not just Leaders’ Questions on the Tuesday but also questions to the Taoiseach, perhaps one, two or three weeks before the demise of this the 31st Dáil.

And the Deputy’s demise.

And a lot of the Labour Party’s Members.

The leader of the Dáil and the country should be facilitating the representatives of the people-----

This is wasting time.

-----to answer very serious questions after the Christmas break and before a general election.

We have missed the Deputy's questions in the past couple of months.

The statues will not mind about that.

I propose an amendment to the Government’s proposal-----

Is it Christmas Day?

-----that the Dáil shall adjourn until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 12 January 2016.

All for another day.

Will Deputy Joe Higgins be here?

This is a waste of time.

I might be in the dungeons still trying to sort out the Government’s banking problems.

The Deputy will have a couple of pensions to sort them out with. How many pensions will the Deputy have when he retires? One from the European Union, one from here and where else?

The dates have been arranged to convenience the successful completion and publication of the report of the banking inquiry. There has been general agreement on all sides of the House about the selection of that date.

Deputy Joe Higgins can do his own one.

Notwithstanding the somewhat heated atmosphere in the past hour or two, I wish everybody a very happy and peaceful Christmas with their families, relatives and friends.

I thank the Tánaiste.

I also wish people a happy and prosperous new year.

The Tánaiste is awfully kind.

Many people will retire from the Dáil after the next general election, including Deputy Joe Higgins.

When is the general election?

Next year will bring several changes for many people. It is appropriate that Members should have a rest and a bit of down time with their families. One of the things about being a woman Tánaiste and one of the limited number of women in this Chamber is that having more women in the House has led to a greater emphasis on family friendly policies and nothing could be as family friendly-----

As a bed on the street.

And cuts to the one-parent family allowance.

-----for most people as Christmas. It is also a difficult time for people who have suffered bereavement or illness during the year. For Members and others throughout the country who have suffered bereavement or other loss, Christmas is a time for quite sad contemplation of the person or people who have gone. I wish everybody a happy Christmas and a very successful new year for those who will be out talking to the people of Ireland.

Next year will be the anniversary of the 1916 Rising. I refer to the opening sentence of the Proclamation-----

None of us will have an opportunity to speak on the Order of Business.

-----which addresses "Irishmen and Irishwomen" and wish not just the men but particularly the women of Ireland a very successful and happy new year.