2026-03-24

I call on the Government Whip, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to make a statement.

I move: Notwithstanding today's Order of Business, that the financial motion by the Minister for Finance, Financial Resolution No. 2, shall be taken on the conclusion of the Sinn Féin Private Member's Business. It shall be brought to a conclusion after 60 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: The question on the motion shall dispose of any amendments not disposed tabled to that motion. The order of speaking and allocation of time shall be as follows: - Opening speech by a Minister or Minister of State - 10 minutes; - Speeches by representatives of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, Social Democrats, Independent and Parties Technical Group and Independent Technical Group - 7.5 minutes per party or group; - Speeches by other Members - 7.5 minutes; and - A speech in response by the Minister - 5 minutes. Members may share time and any division demanded shall be taken immediately; and that the arrangements for the motion for the Revised Estimate on 25 March 2026 shall include Vote 33. Oral parliamentary questions from the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will be removed from this evening's Order of Business and will be rescheduled.

Is that agreed?

It is not agreed. The Government has had weeks now to respond to this crisis. There has been a lack of communication to the Opposition. We have been frantically trying to get clarification on votes to allow us to prepare amendments. This is no way to do business and we strongly object to the way this has been handled today. We will push a vote on this matter.

I want to put on record my serious concerns about the way in which business has been conducted today. At the end of the Order of Business and the Chief Whip's short contribution earlier today, she mentioned that there may be other resolutions this evening. We were in the dark about this. We want to be a constructive and responsible Opposition. There are people watching in who are concerned about their everyday livelihoods and the challenges they face, and now this is being sprung on us with a limited amount of time to prepare. This is no way to do business. We expressed our concerns about that earlier today through our own Whip, Deputy Duncan Smith. This is just a repeat of that. It is completely unacceptable. There is a better way to do business and this is not it.

I agree with the points that were made. We need proper notice to be able to do our jobs.

I understand the Deputies' concerns about the way business is being conducted, but I flagged on the Order of Business that I would potentially be coming back in this evening. Notwithstanding the importance of what the Government is doing, Financial Resolution No. 2 means hauliers, who are at the pin of the collar at the moment, will see an increase from 7.5 cent per litre to 12 cent per litre, backdated to 1 January. If the Deputies believe they cannot support this because I was a little bit late bringing this motion forward-----

That is not the point.

It is extremely important and the order stands.

That is disingenuous.

It is so important that the Government did not even-----

It has been trailed through the media for days that hauliers are going to get a rebate. That is fine. We will consider that. It does not mean anybody opposes it. Everybody accepts that hauliers require support. That is not the point. The Government knew earlier today that this was going to happen. It could have provided the Opposition with the information in a constructive fashion, and we could have worked on a collegial basis to get this business done. People are watching. They are worried about their livelihoods and businesses. Why can we not do this properly? It is sharp practice.

The Minister of State has moved the proposal.

The Minister of State should not misrepresent what we said. The way this has been handled today is completely disrespectful to the Opposition. We had no chance to prepare amendments. We are frantically trying to get information from the secretariat and there is a vacuum. We are calling a vote in protest at the way the Government handled this today, considering it took it weeks to get to this point. It also briefed all the journalists in recent days. It knew what it was doing. It just did not have this organised today. It is not an acceptable way to do business.

I did not brief anyone today. I did not brief any journalists. I have not had time to bless myself.