asked the Minister for Health if he has placed in the Oireachtas Library a copy of the World Health Organisation report on the Billings Method referred to by him during debates on the Health (Family Planning) Bill, 1978.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - WHO Family Planning Report.
1.
Copies of World Health Organisation reports are not normally placed in the Library. This particular report had limited circulation but, as I indicated in the course of the debate on the Health (Family Planning) Bill, I will be glad to make a copy of it available to any Deputy who wishes to have it.
Is the Minister aware that after he referred to this in the Dáil I went to the Dáil Library and was not only told they did not have it but that the Department of Health refused to supply it to them on the grounds that it had not yet been officially released for publication?
That may well be.
If the Minister is accepting that that is the state of affairs, would he like to comment on the fact that, in defiance of the procedures of the House, he quoted selectively from a document that was not available to other Members of the House in order to refute his claim?
I do not accept that there is any validity in that.
This is argument.
I have given the position. These reports are not normally placed in the Library but if the Deputy particularly wishes for a copy of this I will be glad to facilitate him.
The Minister is not accepting the point I am making——
The Deputy did not ask a question.
Will the Minister accept that he was in breach of the rules and traditions of the House in making a very contentious quotation from a document which other Members were not allowed consult?
No.
On a point of order, is it in order to quote from a document which is not available to other Members of the House?
The Chair is never in a position to know whether or not a document is available, but the reference is usually given.
It is required that it should be available is it not? If the Chair knew that it was not available, the Chair must rule it out of order.
I take it that it should be brought to the Chair's notice at the time.
Documents are frequently quoted from in this House which are not available to all of us. There is no point of procedure in that at all.
We have all been asked to give our quotations and to say where they are available.
I quoted the document in full and I gave the full description of the document.
The Minister knows he is out of order.
He is not out of order. A point of order is a matter for the Ceann Comhairle.
Will the Ceann Comhairle investigate the statements I have made in relation to what the Minister did?
I am not sure if it falls within the ambit of the Ceann Comhairle's responsibility, but I will inquire. The Deputy has asked the Ceann Comhairle a hypothetical question and it is not easy to answer.
Will the Minister say if the report is now in the Library?
No. I said in my answer that it is not in the Library but I will make a copy of it available to any Deputy who wishes to have it, in accordance with my usual courteous procedure to Deputies in this House.
Why not put it in the Library?
I do not control what goes into the Library and these reports are not normally placed in the Library.
Question No. 2——
The Minister could undertake to put it into the Library.
Question No. 2 is for written reply. Question No. 3.