Is this the appropriate stage when a Private Notice Question is taken if it is allowed to be presented?
Business of Dáil.
Yes.
I submitted a Private Notice Question this morning and this afternoon I received a brief telephone communication to the effect that it was not permitted. I am not challenging the ruling of the Chair but I should like to ask on what grounds the Chair refused to accept it.
Standing Order No. 31, to which I referred, provides that Private Notice Questions must be of urgent public importance. The Deputy's question satisfied the requirement of importance but it does not meet the requirement of urgency in the Standing Order. Permission could not, therefore, be given for it.
I should like to point out that the public importance of the question I put could hardly be in doubt. The question referred to the statements on Radio Telefís Éireann on Sunday by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in relation to the outcome of the Northern Convention elections. The urgency I imported into it is self-evident. In that question I asked the Taoiseach if he was aware of the despondency and apprehension that this statement caused in the country, especially amongst the Northern minority, and if he would make an immediate statement to allay that despair and apprehension. The urgency is clearly evident on the face of the question.
The statement is now being dealt with. A statement by the Taoiseach.