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Seanad Éireann · 2026-03-19

Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad

FG Seán Kyne · Cultural and Educational Panel

Party shown is the one held on 2026-03-19, frozen at parse time — not the speaker's party today.

Summary of this debate

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I move: "That the Seanad do now adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 24 March 2026." I move amendment No. 1: That the Seanad do now adjourn until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, 24 March 2026. We have all committed to the women's caucus and to having a family-friendly parliament. All I am asking is that we meet here next Tuesday at 1 p.m. as opposed to 2.30 p.m.

I am quite happy with a 2.30 p.m. start next Tuesday. We take these from week to week; sometimes there is a 2 p.m. start and sometimes there is a 1 p.m. start. I am quite happy to keep this under review but as it stands I propose a 2.30 p.m. start next Tuesday.

Built by scoring every sentence in the debate on how distinctive its language is, then quoting the highest-scoring ones back word for word and in the order spoken. Nothing is paraphrased or invented — if a sentence appears here, it was said in the chamber. Drawn from 114 words across 4 contributions by 3 speakers.

Most used terms in this debate

How often each word appears across the whole debate, ranked by how distinctive it is to this debate rather than common to all parliamentary language.

tuesday 6
family-friendly 2
start 5
parliament 3
adjourn 2
caucus 1
opposed 2
propose 2
week 3
amendment 2
seanad 2
measure 2

How this debate ended

Lost Amendment put: · 17 Tá – 23 Níl

The full debate

All 4 contributions, start to finish, in the order they were made. The one you came here for is highlighted.

FG Seán Kyne this contribution

I move: "That the Seanad do now adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 24 March 2026."

IND Victor Boyhan

I move amendment No. 1:

That the Seanad do now adjourn until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, 24 March 2026.

We are a friendly parliament. We have all committed to the women's caucus and to having a family-friendly parliament. On Wednesday we met here in the middle of the day and it worked very well. People have homes to go to. We do not all live in rural Ireland. People live in the urban spaces here and they have commitments. All I propose is a simple measure that we meet at 1 p.m. as opposed to 2.30 p.m. We are well paid and we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of legislation to get through and I think it is a reasonable measure. It is ultimately a matter for the House but we cannot continue to talk about a family-friendly parliament and at the same time object to coming to work an hour earlier. All I am asking is that we meet here next Tuesday at 1 p.m. as opposed to 2.30 p.m.

IND Michael McDowell

I second the amendment.

FG Seán Kyne

I am sure all Members here work very early on a Tuesday, from 8 a.m. or whenever else, and there are those of us who have to drive up from rural Ireland. I am quite happy with a 2.30 p.m. start next Tuesday. We take these from week to week; sometimes there is a 2 p.m. start and sometimes there is a 1 p.m. start. This week there was a 1 p.m. start to facilitate the International Protection Bill and we thought we would have a later sitting. I am quite happy to keep this under review but as it stands I propose a 2.30 p.m. start next Tuesday.