I move:

Wednesday's business shall be:

- Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions (to be taken without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately)

- Motion re Restoration of Bills (to be taken without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately)

- Motion re Pre-legislative Scrutiny waiver for Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025 (to be taken without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately)

- Statements on Government's Response to Storm Éowyn (to adjourn after 3 hrs 22 mins)

Wednesday's private members' business shall be the Motion re Palestine, selected by Sinn Féin.

Thursday's business shall be:

- Statements on Government's Response to Storm Éowyn (resumed) (to conclude after 88.5 mins)

- Statements on Programme for Government (to adjourn after 3 hrs 22 mins)

Proposed arrangements:

It is proposed that:

1. until further notice in the 34th Dáil, where Standing Orders 21 and 22 require either a quorum of 10 or of 20, that quorum shall at all times be reduced to five;

2. notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, and until further notice in the 34th Dáil, the following sequence and times shall apply in relation to the speaking arrangements on private members’ time:

(i) where Sinn Féin is the sponsor

- Sinn Féin – 20 minutes

- Government 10 minutes

- Sinn Féin – 10 minutes

- all other parties and groups in Opposition – 15 minutes each

- Government 10 minutes

- Sinn Féin – 10 minutes; and

(ii) where any other party or group in Opposition is the sponsor

- Sponsor – 20 minutes

- Government – 10 minutes

- Sponsor – 10 minutes

- Sinn Féin – 20 minutes

- all other parties and groups in Opposition – 13.33 minutes each

- Government 10 minutes

- Sponsor – 10 minutes;

3. on Wednesday, 5th February, 2025, the ordinary routine of business as set out in Schedule 3 to Standing Orders is modified to the extent that, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 34(1)—

(i) only three Leaders' Questions pursuant to Standing Order 38 shall be taken, in the following temporary sequence: Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and Social Democrats;

(ii) Parliamentary Questions to the Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Order 47(1) shall not be taken and Government business shall commence at the time when Parliamentary Questions to the Taoiseach would normally be taken;

(iii) private members’ business may be taken later than 6.12 p.m.;

(iv) Parliamentary Questions to a Minister other than the Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Order 47(1) shall not be taken; and

(v) the Dáil shall adjourn on the conclusion of topical issues pursuant to Standing Order 39 which shall be taken on the conclusion of private members’ business;

4. the proceedings on the Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions shall be taken without debate and any division claimed thereon shall be taken immediately;

5. the proceedings on the Motion re Restoration of Bills shall be taken without debate and any division claimed thereon shall be taken immediately;

6. the proceedings on the Motion re Pre-legislative Scrutiny waiver for Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025 shall be taken without debate and any division claimed thereon shall be taken immediately;

7. on Wednesday, the Statements on the Government’s response to Storm Éowyn shall be interrupted and stand adjourned after 3 hours and 22 minutes and the order of speaking and allocation of time shall be as follows:

(i) the arrangements for the statements shall be in accordance with the arrangements contained in the table immediately below (to be read across, not down); and

(ii) members may share time;

8. until further notice in the 34th Dáil, the allocation and sequence of Questions nominated for priority pursuant to Standing Order 50 shall be in accordance with the table immediately below;

9. in relation to the arrangements for Thursday, 6th February, 2025:

(i) the ordinary routine of business as contained in Schedule 3 to Standing Orders shall be modified to the following extent:

(a) the Dáil shall meet at 9.30 a.m.;

(b) Parliamentary Questions to a Minister other than the Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Order 47(1) shall not be taken and Government business shall be taken as the first item of business;

(c) topical issues pursuant to Standing Order 39 shall be taken immediately following the resumed Statements on the Government’s Response to Storm Éowyn; and

(d) only three Leaders' Questions pursuant to Standing Order 38 shall be taken, in the following temporary sequence: Sinn Féin, Independent and Parties Technical Group (IPTG), and Independent Technical Group (ITG); and

(e) no motion for a Committee report pursuant to Standing Order 111 or private member's Bill pursuant to Standing Order 169 shall be taken; and

(ii) the Dáil shall adjourn on the adjournment of the Statements on Programme for Government;

10. the resumed Statements on the Government’s response to Storm Éowyn shall not exceed 88.5 minutes and the order of speaking and allocation of time shall be as follows:

(i) the arrangements for the statements, not including the Ministerial response, shall be in accordance with the arrangements contained in the table immediately below (to be read across, not down);

(ii) following the statements, a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed 10 minutes; and

(iii) members may share time; and

11. the Statements on the Programme for Government shall be interrupted and stand adjourned after 3 hours and 22 minutes and the order of speaking and allocation of time shall be as follows:

(i) the arrangements for the statements shall be in accordance with the arrangements contained in the table immediately below (to be read across, not down); and

(ii) members may share time.

Are the proposed-----

Not agreed.

You might just give me a minute, for the benefit of our new TDs. Are the proposed arrangements for the week's business agreed to?

They are not agreed.

They are not agreed.

I propose to take one Member from each group. We will start with Deputy McDonald, who has one minute speaking time.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Contrary to the Taoiseach's assertion, the actual priority for this new cobbled-together grubby-deal Government is actually jobs for the boys, and for the few girls who might be lucky enough to make an appearance. Its desire to divvy out the spoils of government is unparalleled in the history of this House. The Order of Business proposes more positions, more allowances and more expense for the taxpayer but the Government wants all of this without even basic pre-legislative scrutiny. The Government expects us to tolerate this going through on the nod. That is not going to happen and it is completely and utterly unacceptable.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

Given the unprecedented number of junior Ministers being assigned by this Government, and also in trying to start this Dáil on somewhat of a better foot, it is a poor precedent to have pre-legislative scrutiny waived in respect of this Bill.

On another note, with regard to the restoration of Bills, we received the list some 20 minutes before we sat but we really should have received it a lot earlier, notwithstanding what happened in the past couple of weeks.

I concur with the previous speakers. The Taoiseach has repeatedly said Storm Éowyn was a storm without precedent, and he is absolutely correct. What is also without precedent is his Government's lack of response. There was no plan. The Government left the ESB to do the heavy lifting.

That is not true.

There will be statements on the issue later today.

We will have statements on the matter today but what we need are questions and answers with the Minister to find out where the Government was. Where were the Ministers? What were the Departments doing? How were they actually connecting? The one thing that has consistently come across from all the people who were caught up in this awful storm was they were being left absolutely on their own. We will have statements on the matter but we want a questions-and-answers session. We need to have an opportunity to ask questions and for the Minister to tell us where the gaps were and what the Government is going to do to ensure people will be not left in that situation again. It has been completely unacceptable. The Taoiseach's own Ministers have said the Government was not prepared and was too slow with its response.

We are objecting to the Order of Business. The Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and so-called Independents gravy train has arrived, in the form of the Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025, to give more jobs, allowances and Ministries to spread out the spoils of an election. It is really blatant and outrageous and the Government is not even proposing that there would be a debate on it. This is not a particularly good sign of where this Government is heading. It tried strokes last week to steal Opposition time and now it is going to loot the public purse with new allowances and new Ministries which quite possibly are in breach of the Constitution.

We, too, object to the Order of Business. While I accept that the Chief Whip has done everything she can to give us as much time as possible to discuss the storm, it is still a very serious concern out there. The relevant Ministers - the Minister for the environment, the Minister for Health, the Minister for disabilities, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Social Protection and rural affairs - must come before the Dáil to outline exactly what is going to be done. We have 18,000 homes still without power. We have damaged houses and sheds blown to the ground with cattle exposed there. There are people with no water, heat or food, and there is no adequate emergency response in place from the Government. This is one of the most significant emergencies this country has ever faced and we need proper answers to be given here in the Dáil by each relevant Minister.

On the Sinn Féin strategy, I believe the party did tell journalists that it was going to bring a new aggression in its Oireachtas strategy. I think it has decided to import the total opposition approach which has now become the norm in many parliaments that are dominated by populists.

Just answer the question.

On the issue raised by Deputy McDonald, we have the largest population in our history. By the way, we have the largest Dáil in our history. We have gone from 160 Teachtaí to 174. I do not see any 14 volunteers who want to resign their Dáil seats. We have a growing agenda and I would argue - I will be clear about it - that the legislation governing Cabinet and Secretary numbers and all of that is out of date. One can either have an honest debate about that-----

But you do not want a debate.

-----or not.

We have just-----

Deputies, please.

We have just discussed climate and the storm. The storm is a consequence of climate change. These are issues that were not there when the Constitution was enacted, in terms of the number of Ministers and so on. There is a whole range of new areas: energy, offshore renewable and so on. We need a Minister of State for the marine. We need a Minister of State for migration. Of that there can be no question. Marine is so important in so many aspects now. There are big issues on security and defence which dominated in Europe this week. There is hardly a whisper in here but it is dominating all of Europe-----

We were not in here.

-----in terms of security and defence, marine security, subsea cables and cybersecurity.

We were on holidays.

Deputies, please.

The issues are growing and the agenda is growing. We either want to be realistic about it or we do not. The larger Dáil reflects a larger population and that has to manifest itself as well in terms of the structures and size of Government.

On the storm, my understanding was that agreement had been reached yesterday with regard to arrangements for the storm. I hope I am not now going to begin a new Dáil season where things get agreed in the Business Committee and 24 hours later there are objections to what was agreed. I assure Deputies Whitmore and Collins that there will be ample time for debate on Storm Éowyn, and if we have to take it into next week, we will. We have provided extended opportunities tomorrow for commentary on the storm, which is the most severe we have experienced. We are quite happy to do that. There is no issue there.

I thank the Taoiseach. Are the proposed arrangements agreed to?

Not agreed.