For those listening in here, as opposed to those who are in this Chamber, what we are doing today now is considering the Order of Business. That is our function here under our Standing Orders and under the regulations and precedents that govern the conduct of Seanad Éireann. Today we have one proposal under the Order of Business and that is submitted by the Leader's office, which is No. 1, the Mental Health Bill 2024, Report and Final Stages. So people outside who are tuning in, this proposal is that this Bill will be taken at 11.45 a.m. and the proceedings thereon shall be brought to a conclusion at 3.45 p.m. by the putting of one motion from the Chair which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by Government. That is the only Order of Business today and that is all I am going to speak on.

I do not need to remind everyone that there are 234 amendments on this legislation so we have a lot of work to do. I and a number of members of the Opposition did meet this morning and considered putting down an amendment to the Order of Business but we were pragmatic and we are pragmatists. We believe that it would unfortunately tap into our time in the Seanad today, given it is a limited amount of time.

I hope the Deputy Leader will take that in the spirit that it was meant. We were not going to hold up the House. We were not going to cut into the time of the House because we want to get directly to the important amendments that affect people's mental health in this country. I want to assure the Leader that there will be co-operation from those who I have spoken to on this side of the House.

We will attempt to do our business professionally, but with respect. We can all hold back on repeating ourselves on all sides of the House and that includes on the Government side as well. I hope the debate will go well. We should endeavour to buckle down and make a decision. At this stage we have debated most of the issues, so let us get to the important point and put the votes on the record of the House. I hope the debate will go well and I genuinely mean that. Let us try to do our business speedily. I have to put on the record that the guillotine is disappointing but I am moving on. Let us glance back and look forward. There will be other days and other opportunities to reform parliamentary democracy. It is a sad day and an affront to parliamentary democracy that we had a guillotine in the Dáil last night and now here in this House. We cannot continue. I will finish on this point because it relates to some of the Members of the Deputy Leader's Party. During the past 24 hours we have seen people step up to the plate and talk about their frustration with the parliamentary process, be they Independent or within the parties. It is a wake-up call for all Members of the Oireachtas. We need to do our business in a better way, in a more respectful way, and stop guillotining debates the public deserve to hear.