Before proceeding with the Order of Business I propose to dispose of some notices of motion under Standing Order 30, received from Deputies Dick Spring, Proinsias De Rossa and Alan Dukes. I will call the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their motions to my office. I call, therefore, Deputy Dick Spring. Will the Deputy please state the matter of which he has given me notice?
Requests to Move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 30.
In accordance with Standing Order 30 I gave you notice of my intention to raise a matter this morning at the commencement of public business and that matter is as follows: that this House views with extreme concern the recently published allegation that a senior member of Fianna Fáil attempted to intimidate a member of the presidential household staff on the night the Government fell in January 1982, with a view to securing an interview with the President. Such intimidation, if it occurred, would be a clear breach of section 8 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939, and of section 254 of the Defence Act, 1954. This House calls on the Government immediately to institute an inquiry by the Garda Síochána into the matter. As this allegation has been made about the Taoiseach, and because of its gravity, the Taoiseach must be given an opportunity to deal with the matter.
I now call on Deputy Proinsias De Rossa. Will the Deputy please state the matter of which he has given me notice?
In accordance with Standing Order 30 I request leave to move the Adjournment of the Dáil to discuss the following specific and important matter of public interest, namely, the allegations that a Defence Forces officer on duty in Áras an Uachtaráin on the night of 27 January 1982 was abused and threatened by a senior Fianna Fáil politician when he informed that politician that the President was unavailable to take a phone call, and that the officer was further warned that his career would suffer if he did not put the call through. I believe this issue has the most important implications for our democratic institutions and for the relationship between our politicians and the Defence Forces. It is essential that the Dáil should be allowed debate the allegations as a matter of extreme urgency and, indeed, to allow the Taoiseach, who has been named in the allegations as the politician concerned, an opportunity to clarify his role in the matter.
I now call on Deputy Alan Dukes to state the matter on which he has given me notice.
The matter of which I have given you notice is the allegation relayed to me by a number of sources, apart from the publication in a newspaper, that on the night of 27 January 1982 the then Deputy Charles Haughey threatened to interfere in the future career of an Army officer on duty in Áras an Uachtaráin, who refused to put a telephone call from Deputy Haughey through to the President, an action which was in clear breach of the provisions of our Defence Acts and of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939, and a course of conduct which is totally prejudicial to the proper conduct of political activity in our State.
Having considered the matters fully I do not consider they are of the kind contemplated by Standing Order 30 and I cannot therefore grant leave to move the motions. These motions are clearly anticipatory of the confidence motion which is about to be taken today.
A Cheann Comhairle, do you not think it would be in everybody's interest if the Taoiseach was afforded an opportunity to make a statement on this specific matter?
These are matters which can be referred to in the confidence motion which is about to take place here today.
A Cheann Comhairle, I do not wish to contest your ruling but do you not think, Sir, that it is a matter of urgent public importance that an allegation made against a Member of this House who now holds the highest office in our Government should be separately and clearly examined by this House, quite apart from any general question of confidence in the Government?
I have given my ruling in the matter. It is something that can be discussed in the motion which is about to be taken here today.
At this stage I would say very briefly that I reject these allegations with contempt. I will deal with them in the course of my speech today.