Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The budget is a central piece of business for the year. That is how it is presented. Historically, Deputies got an opportunity to have their say in a budget debate during the general discussion on the financial resolutions. Our view is that it is not tenable to proceed on the basis that the Dáil can only have plenary sessions at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and at 12 noon on Wednesdays and Thursdays and that if we are to having anything, we must forgo Private Members' business. That is not sustainable at all.

It demeans the budget and the House to state that the budget can be discussed only in the graveyard slot between 10 p.m. and midnight. The last Dáil, for example, was able to convene at 9.30 a.m. to take Question Time or various other items-----

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