I move:
That the following be adopted in substitution for Standing Order 30 of the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business—
30. (1) Leave to move a motion for the Adjournment of the Dáil on a specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration may be sought on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday on which the Dáil sits if a member gives notice in writing to the Ceann Comhairle not less than 45 minutes before the opening of the sitting. Such notice shall state the matter which the member seeks to raise and may refer to the merits of or reasons for raising the matter in a manner which the Ceann Comhairle considers to be brief and concise.
(2) Where the Ceann Comhairle is satisfied that the notice complies with the requirements of this Standing Order, the member shall be called upon by the Ceann Comhairle at the commencement of Public Business, whereupon the member shall rise in his place and state that he requests leave to move the adjournment of the Dáil for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration and shall state the notice given but may not elaborate thereon.
(3) If the Ceann Comhairle considers the motion to be one contemplated by this Standing Order, he shall thereupon desire the members who support the request to rise in their places. If not less than twelve members rise accordingly, he shall give leave to make the motion, which shall be moved at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday or Wednesday, or 3.30 p.m. on a Thursday, or at such hour on the day on which the request is made as the Dáil may appoint.
(4) A matter submitted in pursuance of this Standing Order which fails to obtain the requisite support cannot during the following six months be again brought forward under this Standing Order.
Motion 10 proposes amendments to Standing Order 30 in the light of difficulties which have been encountered on the Order of Business with the present operation of the Standing Order and the frequency with which this Standing Order has been invoked recently.
It must be remembered that this Standing Order is reserved for specific and important matters of public interest requiring urgent consideration and that this Standing Order was never intended as a mechanism for raising topical or current matters. The rulings of the Chair under this Standing Order in the past have been carefully and consistently applied, as the statistics show. Of the 50 requests made under this Standing Order since 1973, only five were successful, 32 have been made in the last two years and 11 in the last two months alone.
In considering amendments to the operation of the Standing Order, detailed consideration between all parties took place both at the Working Group on Dáil Reform and at the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. The motion now before the House reflects the agreed outcome of these detailed discussions.
The amendments submitted and circulated by The Workers' Party last night have been tabled at the last minute and too late to afford an opportunity for consideration by the working group and the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. Therefore, they are not acceptable in the light of the consensus already reached. Furthermore the proposal to allow one minute to state the notice given could lead to every application under this Standing Order lasting one minute and, therefore, a number of one minute statements on the Order of Business which is not intended in this amendment. Indeed, I might mention that the original version of the motion has already been amended to include a proposal by The Workers' Party.
The Working Group on Dáil Reform, who meet on a regular basis and are currently examining other areas of Dáil reform, have given very detailed consideration to this matter. The group have always striven to achieve unanimity in their proposals. It is regretted that on this occasion we have two amendments tabled to a motion arising from detailed discussions by the group.
I must re-emphasise that this Standing Order was introduced to cater for specific and important matters requiring urgent consideration and that the House must guard against its misuse. The motion now proposed is designed to do this; while providing for the more orderly operation of the Standing Order it retains and protects its underlying principle. It is hoped that opposition parties will respect this.
In relation to Motion No. 11, the Government have endeavoured to meet the requests of the Opposition parties by, first, introducing a new statements procedure in grievance time. The procedure has been under-utilised to date and the Government have examined ways in which changes could be made to meet the wishes of Opposition parties.
This motion proposes amendments to the statements procedure by extending the total time allowed to members from 15 to 20 minutes and by extending the time for raising each matter from one to two minutes. In addition, the Minister will now give an immediate response to each matter raised, thereby replacing the composite reply procedure which applied heretofore.
I would like to remind Members that this Government have extended the time allowed for adjournment debates to 50 minutes and increased the number of matters which may be raised to eight. It is to be hoped that this response by the Government in providing additional time and facilitating Opposition parties by amending the procedure will be recognised and fully utilised by the Opposition parties, as was the original intention.