I have to name Deputy Harte.
Committee on Finance. - Suspension of Member.
I move:
That Deputy Harte be suspended from the service of the Dáil.
Question put and declared carried.
Is it in order for the Parliamentary Secretary to move the suspension? Does that not devolve on the Taoiseach?
No. The motion for suspension has been carried.
I want to make an inquiry and surely you will answer a civil question? I have seen this procedure followed in the House and invariably it has devolved on the Taoiseach to move the suspension. Is it in order for anybody less than him to do so?
Yes.
Are you sure of that?
Does it come within the competence of a Parliamentary Secretary to move a motion of this kind?
This is what we would expect if you had got the straight vote through.
It is disgusting. The Deputy has been completely out of order.
I ask Deputy Harte to leave the House. His suspension has been carried.
I want to know for what reason.
There can be no argument about it at this stage.
He is entitled to know for what reason.
He was informed by the Chair when he was out of order.
How many Deputies and Ministers have been out of order during the week?
They have all been out of order.
Deputy Breslin knows, as Ceann Comhairle, that I was exposing the weaknesses of Fianna Fáil. This is a personal attack on me. This is the third time. You are not fit to be in the Chair, Sir.
Is it in order for Deputy Lalor to move the suspension of a Deputy when Deputy Lalor is not even a member of the Government? Surely the Chair will have to refer——
If Deputy Harte refuses to obey I will ask the Captain of the Guard to escort him from the House.
It is not a decision of the House.
It has not been moved properly.
I put it to the House.
There is not even a member of the Government in the House.
The right man is coming now, to put him out.
If you had let me alone I would have been finished by now.
The Taoiseach is the person, not any aspiring Taoiseach. This has never happened before in the history of the House.
The Deputy has been suspended from the service of the Dáil.
I have been in the House and no motion has been put. I did not vote on it.
It was not put in the usual way. The Taoiseach is the person to move the motion. There was not a member of the Government present.
It is not necessary to have the Taoiseach present.
Nobody called for a vote.
It was put in the usual way.
I have not left the House since this incident arose and I did not hear the motion put and I did not hear it moved.
The Ceann Comhairle said he moved it.
I put the question in the usual way and I informed the House that it was being put.
In the interests of the House I would urge you not to proceed in the way we are proceeding now. If there is a motion for the suspension of the Deputy it should be moved in the full knowledge of the Deputies here. If it is moved in a furtive manner it would be quite wrong and would establish a precedent contrary to —
It is possible that on account of the disorder in the House the Question I put was not heard. In deference, therefore, to Deputy O'Higgins I shall remove any ground for objection and put the Question again. The Parliamentary Secretary has moved that Deputy Harte be suspended from the service of the Dáil.
Question put.
On a point of order do I understand that you moved a suspension of the sitting under Article 50 of Standing Orders?
There can be no discussion now.
I am putting a point of order.
There can be no point of order.
Article 50 points out that when the House is in Committee the House is suspended and the circumstances reported to the Dáil.
That was done.——
It was not done.
The Deputy was not in the House.
Other people were in the House and I take their word.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 47; Níl, 34.
Tá
- Aiken, Frank.
- Barrett, Sylvester.
- Blaney, Neil T.
- Boland, Kevin.
- Boylan, Terence.
- Brady, Philip.
- Brennan, Paudge.
- Cotter, Edward.
- Cronin, Jerry.
- Crowley, Flor.
- Cunningham, Liam.
- de Valera, Vivion.
- Dowling, Joe.
- Fahey, John.
- Fanning, John.
- Faulkner, Pádraig.
- Fitzpatrick, Thomas J. (Dublin).
- Gallagher, James.
- Geoghegan, John.
- Gibbons, Hugh.
- Gilbride, Eugene.
- Healy, Augustine A.
- Kenneally, William.
- Kitt, Michael F.
- Briscoe, Ben.
- Browne, Patrick.
- Burke, Patrick J.
- Calleary, Phelim A.
- Carter, Frank.
- Carty, Michael.
- Corry, Martin J.
- Lalor, Patrick J.
- Lemass, Noel T.
- Lynch Celia.
- Lynch, John.
- McEllistrim, Thomas.
- MacEntee, Seán.
- Meaney, Tom.
- Moore, Seán.
- Nolan, Thomas.
- Nortan, Patrick.
- Ó Briain, Donnchadh.
- Ó Ceallaigh, Seán.
- O'Connor, Timothy.
- O'Leary, John.
- O'Malley, Desmond.
- Sheridan, Joseph.
Níl
- Barry, Richard.
- Belton, Luke.
- Belton, Paddy.
- Burke, Joan T.
- Burton, Philip.
- Byrne, Patrick.
- Clinton, Mark A.
- Crotty, Patrick J.
- Dillon, James M.
- Dockrell, Henry P.
- Dockrell, Maurice E.
- Donegan, Patrick S.
- Donnellan, John.
- Dunne, Seán.
- Dunne, Thomas.
- Farrelly, Denis.
- Fitzpatrick, Thomas J. (Cavan).
- Flanagan, Oliver J.
- Gilhawley, Eugene.
- Hogan, Patrick (South Tipperary).
- Kenney, Henry.
- Kyne, Thomas A.
- L'Estrange, Gerald.
- Lindsay, Patrick J.
- Lyons, Michael D.
- McLaughlin, Joseph.
- O'Donnell, Patrick.
- O'Donnell, Tom.
- O'Higgins, Thomas F.K.
- Reynolds, Patrick J.
- Spring, Dan.
- Sweetman, Gerard.
- Treacy, Seán.
- Tully, James.
Tellers:— Tá: Deputies Carty and G eoghegan; Níl: Deputies L'Estrange and Tom Dunne.
Question declared carried.