It is proposed to take items, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the Order Paper. Public business will be interrupted at 6 p.m. to take motion No. 3.
Order of Business.
What time will be allotted to motion No. 3?
It will conclude this evening.
Mr. Dockrell
How long will be devoted to it?
To the end of business if necessary.
May I remind you, Sir, that on behalf of Deputy Davin I gave notice yesterday week to raise a very important matter connected with Question No. 47 with reference to the Trench Estate, on the adjournment? I should like your permission to raise the matter on the adjournment this evening.
The time allotted for consideration of the motion already referred to is from 6 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Should it conclude before 10 o'clock, I shall be prepared to consider the Deputy's request.
In the event of the debate on the motion not concluding before 10 o'clock, would you, Sir, consider giving Deputy Davin permission to raise this matter on the adjournment to-morrow?
I shall consider that.
Before we proceed with the ordinary business, I should like to raise one question of vital importance, that is, to ask the Minister for Industry and Commerce what steps he proposes to take to bring an end to the very disastrous situation that has been created by the strike in the sugar industry.
I think I should have got notice of this question.
The Minister should have got notice of the question.
I did not have time to give him notice.
The Deputy cannot arrange the Order of Business in this fashion.
All I ask is that the Minister should make a short statement to allay the fears of the people.
If the Deputy really wanted to do that, he would have given me notice.
I think, Sir, with all due respect, I am doing nothing wrong.
Read the Standing Orders.
The Standing Order is definitely against the Deputy.
Surely on a matter of such importance——
There is a method provided in the Standing Order.
Has Deputy Blowick not the right to rise in his place and ask your leave to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of calling attention to a matter of urgent public importance, to wit, the incidence of a strike in the sugar factories, on which he is prepared to give you a written memorandum?
The Deputy did not offer to move in that way.
Has he not the right to do so?
I was coming to that, Sir. If I ask leave to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of calling attention to this matter, will leave be granted?
If the Deputy would comply with the Standing Order in the matter, he should state clearly the matter which he considers to be of urgent public importance and supply me with a written copy of his request.
I ask leave now to move the adjournment——
Will the Deputy comply with the Standing Order?
I ask leave now to move the adjournment.
Under Standing Orders the Chair will give its decision in the matter as soon as it has got in writing from the Deputy a statement of what he wants to raise.
Surely the Standing Orders provide that a Deputy may rise in his place and ask leave to move the adjournment of the House to raise a matter of urgent public importance, stating the nature of it, and that he shall thereupon give to the Ceann Comhairle written particulars of the matter which he wishes to raise?
Precisely. That is what I have not got.
Surely I have a right to ask the Minister to make a statement on this subject. I have asked leave to move the adjournment for this purpose. What is your decision?
The whole trouble would be solved by removing the dictatorial manager you have down there.
There is no use sticking our heads in the sand, ostrich-like.
The Deputy has not given me a copy of the details of the matter which he wishes to raise.
It will be in your hands in a few minutes.
The Deputy should have it ready.
May not a Deputy of this House unfamiliar with technicalities of procedure trespass on your indulgence for some direction in meeting the requirements of an all too seldom referred to Standing Order?
If the Deputy asked for directions from the Chair he would have got them. He has not complied with the Standing Order. Apart from that, it has been decided that a certain motion will be debated from 6 o'clock until 10.30 this evening. If a motion such as the Deputy desired to give notice of were accepted, it would be normally taken at 9 o'clock unless Government time is given before that, and from 6 o'clock to 10.30 would be occupied with other business.
May I ask if the House is sitting to-morrow?
The House is sitting to-morrow, I presume.
Is it possible that we can dismiss discussion of this very important matter on a technicality of that sort?
It is not a technicality. The matter is governed by Standing Orders as prescribed by the House.
Does the Minister not know that the whole country is seething about the strike?
This is the Order of Business.
It is very unfair.
If the Deputy considers it unfair for the Chair to insist on compliance with the Standing Orders made by this House for the conduct of its business, I have nothing to say. The House will be sitting to-morrow, I presume.
Then I will ask leave to move the adjournment of the House at the opening of business to-morrow.
The Deputy might read the Standing Order in the meantime and comply with it. It is very simple and very easily complied with.
When may I ask my question?
The Deputy may ask it now.
I want to ask the Ceann Comhairle if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the gallery is only one-quarter full, while visitors are waiting in the hall at the moment and cannot get in. They are people who merely desire to see the House in session, to have a look at the Front Bench and to see the types of people we all are.
The Deputy wants to know if visitors could be admitted.
I want to know why the gallery is nearly empty in these circumstances.
We do not advert to how many people there are in the gallery. The Deputy might remember that there are only 128 seats in the Gallery and there are 138 Deputies, some of whom are looking for eight tickets. Where are these visitors to be fitted? The number of tickets issued is more than sufficient to fill the gallery—tickets issued to Deputies— and naturally the gallery cannot be over-crowded. The position is that there are more tickets issued than there are seats in the gallery.
Is to-day a special occasion on which visitors cannot get into the gallery—visitors who will leave again in the course of an hour or so, leaving room for others?
I do not want to discuss the gallery, but it is not a place of amusement, like a theatre—in and out. More tickets have been issued than there are seats available. I cannot argue any more about it, but that is the position. We have to take precautions.