The sitting was suspended for ten minutes and now the Leas-Chathaoirleach has come back and taken the Chair without there having been any conversation on the substantive issue at hand. Is that what I am hearing?

If I go outside to take a phone call, will the Leas-Chathaoirleach wait for me?

Sorry, if I go outside now, will you wait for me to get back in? No, you will not.

Now it will be four and four. Is the Leas-Chathaoirleach saying she has recalled the vote?

People were let in when the doors were closed.

Sorry, but the Senator knows quite well from the years she is here that people get locked out when they are not here on time. We get locked out all the time.

Exactly. When it does, I do not start knocking on the door saying, "Sorry, I am just 30 seconds late. Let me in". I respect the process.

I will not resume my seat. I am sorry but you are an impartial, non-voting Member. Even if you were not in your seat to take the vote at the time, those doors should be locked to voting Members after the period that is called. The Acting Chairperson at the time actually instructed that the doors be closed, but, still, more people opened the doors and walked in.

I know the Standing Orders.

I know the Standing Orders.

I have respect for the House. That is why I am in my chair on time when the bells ring. Okay? I do that because I have respect for the House. If I get locked outside, I do not get to vote because I have respect for the House and the rules this House has abided by for exactly the ten years I have been here. So I do have respect for the House.

That is fine. Work away.

Yes.

Yes, it is what we want.

You did not attempt to engage with us during those ten minutes to bring about any sort of resolution before you sat back in that chair.

We were locked out.

With all due respect, she can enter through the middle door as a non-voting Member. The two doors for voting Members should be locked.

Yes, but the doors still get locked after a period.

I am not participating in something that actually is against everything we have done in this Chamber for years. We are now optional on the two-and-one. That means if I come to those doors, I should be treated the same as anybody else and allowed in to vote. Some of us have missed voting on our own amendments because we did not get through the doors at the last second. Before the Chair has even opened his or her mouth, we have been refused at those doors. It is not fair, it is not transparent, it is too loose and it…

Exactly, which is what some of us were in our seats doing.