This afternoon I had a question on the Order Paper as follows:—
"To ask the Taoiseach if he will state if the National Defence Conference has met recently, and, if so, on what date; and if he will state, further, how the Defence Conference is presently constituted; who are the present members; and if it will function in future."
Never in all my memory in this House did I hear such a feeble reply as was given by the Taoiseach. I asked him if he would give the names of the members of the conference and his reply was:—
"The position in regard to the Defence Conference is that it has not met for some months and it is proposed to summon a meeting at an early date for the purpose of bringing it formally to an end."
Surely every Deputy knows that that was no answer to my question. It is about time the Taoiseach realised his responsibilities to members of this House, and when a question of national importance such as this is put to the Taoiseach or to any responsible member of the Government, the least that a Deputy would expect is an answer in accordance with the terms of the question. This question of the National Defence Conference is one which is on the lips of practically every citizen in the State to-day. They are wondering what has become of the conference, which was established with a view to dealing with the situation arising out of the emergency. The Taoiseach did not tell the House to-day at Question Time, as he is very anxious to hide from the people the fact that there are some people on the Defence Conference who refuse to act.