Is the proposal for dealing with Thursday's business agreed?

I must object for the same reasons as apply to the speaking arrangements. We will see a situation where many of the Opposition parties and groups will not get to speak until two or three hours into a debate. That is a devious and underhanded attempt by the Government to silence the Opposition. In response to the Minister I note that unless there is a guillotine, backbenchers have always had as much speaking time as they want on legislation. The debate has gone on until the exhaustion of all speakers. It is utterly dishonest of the Government to say that it has not done something to gag, mute, undermine, neutralise and marginalise opposition voices. In a situation which is now looking very precarious as we face the threat of Covid-19, in which we need as much co-operation as possible, the Minister and the Government have made a big mistake. We are not going to let this go.

What the Government and the Chief Whip have done amounts to downright blackguarding. Some 14 groups will have spoken in today's debate before our group gets to speak. If the experience over the past four years and before has taught me anything, it is that Government backbenchers have a habit of not turning up. The Ceann Comhairle is well aware of that, as is everyone else here. As I said when we last debated this, this is a three-card trick. We will not be able to know when our group is to speak. We had a situation where one group would speak after another. Now the debate will pass back and forth between the Government and other groups. This is nothing but a deliberate trap to trick us out of our speaking rights and silence us. We will be raising this objection every day.

We will have to engage with each other as colleagues to find a more constructive and co-operative approach to the conduct of business.