We are turning this House into a rubber stamp.

We can put 30 kids in a classroom but we cannot-----

On a point of order, custom and practice have changed the rules of the House and people can, as my colleagues have pointed out, raise urgent matters during the Order of Business that need debate or discussion, or which require a Minister to be called to the House.

It is not open to the Cathaoirleach or anybody in the House to change a long-standing practice. Furthermore, we have been in recess while urgent matters such as the opening of schools and the inability of people to get answers to legitimate questions have been evident over the past number of weeks. It is an affront to democracy that the Cathaoirleach or anybody else would seek to shut down debate in this House and not allow those of us with urgent matters that need addressing to have those matters brought before th…

I would have expected that when the Lower House was recalled, the Cathaoirleach would have taken a leadership role and recalled the Seanad.

When does the Cathaoirleach propose to recall the Seanad? It has been recalled for a special sitting today. What is the plan for next week?

I am proposing an amendment to that today.

I have reviewed-----

I am doing it now.

In fairness, we were all under the impression that the Seanad would meet yesterday and that we would have an opportunity to meet the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister with responsibility for higher education to raise urgent matters. We were under that impression, but all of a sudden the possibility of that happening disappeared.

The Cathaoirleach needs to show leadership and recall the Seanad. Today, I will disagree with the proposal to rush through the Bill in one day. I believe the Seanad needs to return next week and it needs to meet three days per week.

I thank the Leader for her intervention. We could have saved ourselves an awful lot of trouble by proceeding with a normal Order of Business. As the Cathaoirleach noted at the opening of today's sitting, there are people on the front line. They have desperate concerns. People are working in schools, or are not sure whether they can return to school because of the health and safety rules that have been introduced. There are questions around Medmark, the treatment of children who become ill in school and the mixed me…

I welcome the Minister and I will support the Bill, but reluctantly. It is a measure that should never have been required. I do not know what has happened since this Government was formed but for some peculiar reason it appears to be losing more and more of the public support that the last Government had. The last Government was hanging on by its fingernails after the general election while we awaited the formation of a Government, yet it had the confidence of all the people all of the time. In recent weeks the mix…

I have been contacted by Ann Marie Flanagan, advocacy officer, and Martin Tobin of the Clare Leader Forum and they have raised many serious issues. From the nature of their questions it appears that we have not moved far from the outdated medical model to the more inclusive and appropriate social model when it comes to people living with disabilities. For a start, they question why Deputy Rabbitte is Minister of State with special responsibility for disability in the Departments of Health and Justice and Equality w…

Hear, hear.

It is not agreed.

I would like to share time with my colleague, Senator Mullen. I will take four minutes and let him have two, if that is okay.

I welcome the Minister to the House. If she performs as she did in her role as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, the Department of Justice and Equality will have a great Minister. I am delighted to see her here. We have been bashing this about for some time. I became a Member of the Seanad in 2014 and, at some point in 2014 or 2015, Senator Norris introduced a Bill on direct provision. All of those in this House at the time said some grand words. We were going to fix the problem overnight.…

Yesterday, we had a debate on education. I received an email this morning from a very frustrated principal. I have been contacted by several principals. The principal asked if schools will be responsible for taking children's temperatures at the point of entry to the school. Children from more affluent areas will be returning from continental holidays even though their families were advised not to go on them. Who will police this? Will we ask principals or teachers to police who can and who cannot enter the classro…

Senator Buttimer has had his chance. Finally, I support the amendment to the Order of Business regarding the Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020 proposed by Senator Higgins. I do not know how we can get that Bill through the House today.