Today's business shall be No. 5, motion re establishment of a Special Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution; No. 11, statements on Brexit, to include No. 6, motion re report of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs entitled "Committee Travel to Brussels 7-8 February 2017"; and No. 6a, motion to instruct the committee on the Bail (Amendment) Bill 2016. Private Members' business shall be No. 91, motion re Defence Forces, selected by Fianna Fáil.

Wednesday's business shall be No. 11, statements on Brexit, to include No. 6, motion re report of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs entitled "Committee Travel to Brussels 7-8 February 2017", resumed, if not previously concluded. Private Members' business shall be No. 92, motion re extension of maternity leave and maternity benefit for mothers of premature babies, selected by the Social Democrats and Green Party group.

Thursday's business shall be No. 19, Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Divorce) Bill 2016 - Second Stage; and No. 1, Hallmarking (Amendment) Bill 2016 - Order for Second Stage and Second Stage. Second Stage of No. 20, Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Bill 2017, will be debated in the evening slot.

I refer Members to the revised report of the Business Committee dated 3 April 2017.

In relation to Tuesday's business, it is proposed that:

(1) the Dáil shall sit later than 10.00 p.m.;

(2) motion re establishment of a Special Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution will be taken without debate;

(3) Statements on Brexit, to include the motion re report of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs entitled Committee Travel to Brussels 7-8 February 2017. Statements of a Minister or Minister of State and the main spokespersons of parties or groups or a Member nominated in their stead shall not exceed ten minutes each. After the opening round the statements shall adjourn until Wednesday when statements of all other Members shall not exceed ten minutes each and all Members may share time. A Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to reply for a period not exceeding ten minutes;

(4) motion to instruct the committee on the Bail (Amendment) Bill 2016 shall conclude within 60 minutes. Speeches of a Minister or Minister of State and the main spokespersons, or a member nominated in their stead, shall not exceed 7.5 minutes each and each division demanded thereon will be taken immediately; and

(5) Private Members' business shall take place on the conclusion of the motion to instruct the committee for two hours.

In relation to Thursday's business, it is proposed that the order of the Dáil of 6 July, 2016, that Second Stage of the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Divorce) Bill 2016 be taken in Private Members' time, be discharged and that Second Stage of the Bill be taken in Government time. Second Stage of the Bill shall conclude within two hours, and the speech of a Government proposer or a Member nominated in his or her stead shall not exceed ten minutes. Speeches of all other Members shall not exceed ten minutes each and all members may share time. A Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to reply for a period not exceeding ten minutes.

There are two proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with Tuesday's business agreed to?

Not agreed.

Not agreed.

We already indicated to the Business Committee in advance that the putting back of Private Members' time from 8 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. to facilitate the recommital of the Bail (Amendment) Bill is not satisfactory from our point of view. It is our Private Members' time this week and many people committed to Defence Force issues will be in attendance this evening. Having Private Members' debates taken at very late hours does not do them any justice and undermines any potential impact such debates can have.

We remain continually opposed to the manner in which the time is allocated to respective parties on debates such as that on the EU Council. The manner in which debating time is allocated in the House is not fair and it has been referred to the Sub-committee on Dáil Reform. We have a situation where Members of a party with 44 Deputies get ten minutes and a party with three Deputies also gets ten minutes. That is not fair. It is not d'Hondt, it is not proportionate and it is not reasonable. Many backbenchers in the main parties cannot get an opportunity to make any contribution to these debates. I am putting the House on notice we believe this is very unfair to parties generally. We are open to a reasonable accommodation and agreement on this, but as things are currently structured we cannot support it.

I call Deputy Boyd Barrett. On which issue will he speak?

On the Order that was read out.

We are dealing with Tuesday's business first.

This is to do with the entire Order, including Tuesday, and on foot of the discussion had at the Business Committee. I proposed to the Business Committee that if the dispute at Bus Éireann was not moving towards resolution there would be a full debate this week on Bus Éireann. At the time it was agreed by all, after a lengthy discussion that dominated the Business Committee, that it would be looked at again today. Topical issues were set aside for the debate but if the strike was not looking as if it was moving towards a resolution a substantial debate would be allowed for this week. This agreement should be followed through. I have just come from the picket line and the workers there are very determined in their view that the Houses of the Oireachtas, public representatives, the Government and the Minister, Deputy Ross, have to address this issue, which is affecting the whole country and, most clearly, those workers on the picket line.

I ask that the Government and the others who were at the Business Committee follow through with that agreement and allow for a minimum two hour debate to address this issue of such national importance this week. I do not care whether it is today, Wednesday or Thursday, but this House has to debate that issue as agreed.

I will deal initially with the first item raised by Deputy Micheál Martin. That is the Private Members' motion on the Defence Forces, which was pushed back to 8.25 p.m. Can the Whip respond to that?

The answer is "Yes" and "No". The timing of these debates is not my decision. It is our decision. We agreed this on Thursday. With respect, there was no dissent noted on Thursday.

A note was sent-----

As a member of-----

It was not brought up on Thursday, so I could not do anything about it then.

It was only brought into the Deputy yesterday morning. There was communication from the Business Committee yesterday morning to recommit the amendment Bill and that was the first notice we had of Fine Gael looking for time from our Private Members' business. We objected to it when it was brought to our attention.

It was my first time hearing about it.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

Does Deputy Mattie McGrath have a proposal to make?

I was at the meeting too. We agreed on it. I understood that the committee rang yesterday. It rang me as Whip to change this and I understood that there was agreement.

There obviously was not, was there?

There is not agreement now.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

I call Deputy Howlin.

We are constantly making announcements on the notion of having a business committee. We cannot have this discussion here. Either we are going to abandon the notion of having a business committee-----

Hear, hear.

-----making the decisions on behalf of all of us, because there is no point in having a parallel debate-----

Did the Business Committee decide this yesterday?

There should be another meeting of the Business Committee if what has been presented by Deputy Mattie McGrath is not what was agreed at the Business Committee-----

There was no meeting yesterday.

Then there should be another meeting of the Business Committee.

There was no meeting yesterday.

In case I missed something, is this a dispute over timing? What is in the difference?

Yes, but we raised it.

Half an hour.

Half an hour. I thought I was hearing things.

We discussed that about 20 minutes ago.

We are exhausting this time discussing a difference of half an hour - very productive.

The Irish Army is important to us.

I realise what the Deputy is saying. There is another issue which I will deal with, which is the question of speaking time.

I dealt with two issues.

We will deal with that.

Deputy McDonald clearly did not hear properly-----

Speaking time-----

-----when she said she was hearing things because I mentioned the timing-----

We will deal with one at a time-----

Half an hour.

-----and I will take Deputy Martin's next. I will ask the Taoiseach on-----

Deputies-----

On a point of order-----

I agree with Deputy Howlin. If there is going to be-----

I doubt it was a point of order.

It relates to the capacity of the House to debate an industrial relations dispute. Has some protocol been established that the House cannot debate it? I ask for clarification.

Let us take one at a time.

The issue I raised was discussed at the Business Committee at length-----

We cannot take the three together. We are taking one at a time.

I am all for process.

There is little point in having a business committee to make decisions for the House if it is going to be changed every time it comes back in here.

Fine Gael has it changed every time.

Deputy Micheál Martin might be a little upset that the Private Members' time of his party was being pushed back by 25 minutes. This was agreed last Thursday and there was no problem. There is a problem now.

Nobody wants to take any-----

The Taoiseach without interruption, please.

Nobody wants to take any time from the Fianna Fáil Party's Private Members' business. It is necessary for there to be a motion to deal with the Bail (Amendment) Bill, which is important legislation. The motion is necessary so that certain amendments can be taken on Committee Stage tomorrow. Let me make a suggestion. If the discussion on the Bail (Amendment) Bill is started on that motion, it can be adjourned at 8 p.m., and the Private Members' business of Fianna Fáil can be taken. If there is a requirement after that to continue discussion on the motion of the Bail (Amendment) Bill, it can be done afterwards. That will not discommode Fianna Fáil and it will still have its full time at the appointed hour. It would be better if the Whips had made the arrangements-----

We have a proposal-----

Can I just correct-----

-----from the Taoiseach.

To be fair, because the Taoiseach is not aware-----

The Deputy and Taoiseach would better have their discussions-----

This was not discussed at the meeting last Thursday, so apologies to the Fianna Fáil Whip.

The Taoiseach has made a proposal.

Apparently, it was discussed during phone conversations yesterday, which I did not know about, so apologies for misleading the Fianna Fáil Whip earlier.

The Taoiseach has made a proposal. Is that agreed? Agreed. Deputy Martin raised the issue of time slots, and I presume that is one that must be discussed by the Business Committee.

It has been discussed and a reform has been agreed.

That will not be resolved today. I am sure Deputy Boyd Barrett is aware the Ceann Comhairle has combined three of the Topical Issues on Bus Éireann to accommodate 15 Deputies. Does the Government side or Deputy Mattie McGrath want to make any comment on the debate on Bus Éireann?

I understood that we had agreed a protocol. I know that Deputy Boyd Barrett had to leave last week. I understood the Ceann Comhairle was firm on what we would do if the strike had not ended, or talks had not taken place.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is correct. Last week we agreed that we would allocate the entire Topical Issue debate to the issue today and that the Ceann Comhairle would make a decision. I understand from speaking to him this morning that he will make the decision as to whether we have a debate on Thursday morning. It is not off the agenda.

We have three days. We are not going to do it today.

Just so we are clear, this was discussed at length. It was the issue that dominated the Business Committee, and the agreement was that we would definitely have Topical Issues allocated today, three of them completely. However, it was argued strongly that if the strike continued that would not be adequate. It was suggested last Thursday that we could not be certain whether the strike was moving towards resolution and if by Tuesday it was clear that it was not moving towards resolution, then there would be a full debate in the Dáil. That is what was agreed.

I hear what the Deputy is saying.

Is there a commitment that is going to happen?

It is for Topical Issues.

That is not what was agreed.

The Business Committee should decide on this either this evening or tomorrow morning.

People keep looking towards me as if it is my decision to make. It is not. What we agreed on Thursday was that we would have Topical Issues today. The Ceann Comhairle made a ruling this morning that we will wait until Topical Issues today and he will then have a meeting. It is not up to me to decide that we are going to have a debate on Thursday morning. It is up to us to decide.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Sort of.