Opposition parties have been called on to agree to the return of the legislative guillotine in the Dáil, otherwise they risk having abortion legislation significantly delayed.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week In Politics, Minister of State Patrick O'Donovan described the abolition of the guillotine as "a really bad idea" which has led to "farce upon farce" in the Dáil.
The Minister was commenting on the long delay in passing the Road Traffic Bill, which required 36 hours of debate on a four-page bill, because members of the Rural Independent Group wanted to block it.
Mr O'Donovan said: "This small group of independents have shown - if you believe strongly enough in blocking a piece of legislation, one or two members of the Oireachtas can subvert it for months, if not years."
Minister of State @podonovan calls for reintroduction of a #guillotine in a ‘limited use’ format #twip pic.twitter.com/OpxAkT5S3d
— The Week in Politics (@rtetwip) July 8, 2018
Asked if the abortion legislation could be delayed by independent TDs in a similar manner to the Road Traffic Bill, Minister O'Donovan agreed saying: "They have written the book on how it should be done."
While accepting that the guillotine was "overly used" in the previous Dáil, Mr O'Donovan said: "There needs to be a return to the introduction of the guillotine on a limited use by agreement [with the Opposition parties]."
Speaking on the same programme, Sinn Féin's David Cullinane suggested that "time-limits" could be set on how long any member of the Dáil could speak.
Referencing the Road Traffic Bill, deputy Cullinane said: "There was speeches for hours on end and I think that's wrong. So I think what we need to do is to take a balanced approach."
