Before concluding——
Committee on Finance. - Suspension of a Deputy.
Mr. Byrne
Progress has been reported.
Mr. Byrne
May I ask your indulgence to ask if the Minister is going to repudiate Deputy Corry's unchristian speech?
The Deputy will sit down. This is not the time to raise that matter.
Mr. Byrne
I will not sit down. I feel we should repudiate Deputy Corry's unchristian speech.
The Deputy must sit down.
Mr. Byrne
It should——
The Deputy must leave the House.
Mr. Byrne
I am satisfied, but it is one consolation to say this: there is not another Deputy in this House who would say what Deputy Corry said——
I am constrained to name Deputy Byrne (Senior) for defiance of the Chair.
Mr. Byrne
——
The Deputy cannot defy the Chair in that fashion.
Deputy Byrne withdrew from the House.
A Chinn Comhairle, I move that Deputy A. Byrne (Senior) be suspended from the service of the Dáil.
There does not appear to be a quorum.
House counted and 20 Deputies being present,
Question—"That Deputy Alfred Byrne, Senior, be suspended from the service of the Dáil"—put and declared carried.
Could we now ask the Minister if there will be a repudiation to-night of the statement?
It would be better to wait until the Minister for Finance is present.
The Minister who was here was positively asked for a repudiation of the remark and we have nothing but the Minister's silence. Could we ask the Minister for Defence to convey our wishes to the Taoiseach?
Deputy Alfred Byrne has felt called upon to make a remark which caused him to be expelled from the House.
The Deputy was expelled for defiance of the Chair.
With which I agree, as he should have obeyed the rule of the Chair. At the same time, there is an obligation, I submit respectfully, on the Minister to say something on the matter that raised that particular point.
I was not present and do not know the circumstances.