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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 19 Sep 1922

Vol. 1 No. 7

AMENDMENT TO BE MOVED BY THOMAS JOHNSON.

To omit the preamble in the draft, and substitute the following:—
"We, the representatives of the Irish people duly elected to express and formulate the will of the people HEREBY DECLARE
"The right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies is indefeasible; that the Nation's sovereignty extends not only to all the men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions; the Nation's soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation.
"That all lawful powers of Government within Ireland and all authority —legislative, executive and judicial— are derived from the people of Ireland.
"That every Treaty or Agreement entered into between the Parliament and Government of Ireland, and any other persons or Governments shall be read subject to the foregoing, and that any Treaty or Agreement heretofore entered into between the Parliament and Government of Ireland and Great Britain is to be read with the understanding that if ever it shall seem right to the Irish people to annul such Treaty or Agreement such annulment is lawful on due notice being given to the several parties to that Treaty or Agreement."

On a point of order arising out of the amendment you have just read, I happen to have an amendment dealing with the preamble in somewhat different terms.

I have not received a copy of it.

I was going to say that I was reserving it for the Committee stage, where I thought it would more properly arise. So there are two amendments dealing with the deletion of the preliminary and substitution of the preamble—one that has been notified in respect of the Second Reading, and one that I propose to notify in respect of the Third Reading, where I thought it would more properly arise. Does one exclude the other, or what happens?

One does not exclude the other.

After the debate on the Second Reading, an amendment can be raised in the Third Reading?

On a point of information, may I ask when should amendments for the Third Reading be handed in?

The amendments to Standing Orders say that amendments to a motion to be moved must be handed in within a certain period. At the same time, it would be desirable that Deputies who have amendments for the Committee stage would let us have them as soon as possible.

Is it practicable or usual that amendments for a later stage be handed in before the preceding stage is disposed of?

It isn't practicable, except that we have got only one amendment for the second stage. Other amendments might, therefore, be framed in the interval.

Are we to assume, when the Bill is before us in Committee, that a previous day's notice is necessary for an amendment—that it cannot be brought forward during the course of the debate, even for the slightest alteration of words?

Standing Orders are being amended again, and that can be arranged for.

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