There is another matter. I gave private notice to the President in respect of a matter of urgent public importance——
RENUNCIATION OF WAR. - UNITED STATES INVITATION TO FREE STATE.
Notice only arrived a short time before one o'clock, and I am not sure the matter is urgent. The question could not possibly be answered to-day in view of the notice.
Under Standing Order 27 I request leave to move the adjournment of the Dáil for the purpose of discussing this matter to-night.
Would the Deputy state what the matter is?
Standing Order 27 reads:—
"A motion for the adjournment of the Dáil on a definite matter of urgent public importance may be made, if a Deputy at the commencement of public business rises in his place, and states that he requests leave to move the adjournment of the Dáil for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, whereupon he shall state the matter, and deliver to the Ceann Comhairle a written statement of the subject to be discussed.
"The Ceann Comhairle shall, thereupon, if he considers the motion is one contemplated by this Standing Order, desire the Deputies who support the request to rise in their places, and, if not less than twelve Deputies rise accordingly, he shall give leave to make the motion, which shall be moved at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, or 2.30 p.m. on a Friday, or at such hour on the day on which the request is made, as the Dáil may appoint:"
The Standing Order means this, I think: That upon the Ceann Comhairle being convinced that a particular matter desired to be raised is, in fact, a matter of urgent public importance, the motion for the House to adjourn will be taken at 9 o'clock, and an hour and a half's consideration given to the matter. The matter the Deputy desires to raise which he put down in a question to the President is, in my judgment, not a matter of sufficient urgent importance to merit my giving the necessary leave to enable the adjournment to be moved at 9 o'clock for the purpose of discussing the matter. The matter is not one of urgency, apart altogether from the question of public importance.
May I state to the Dáil what the question is?
The Deputy has stated it sufficiently to me, and it is a question for the decision of the Chair. I got no notice that it was to be raised in this way. There is no doubt that in my judgment the question is not of urgent public importance; therefore it cannot be discussed, and I see no good purpose that can be served by communicating it to the Dáil.
Is the Deputy not entitled to state publicly what the matter is?
Does not the Standing Order say "whereupon he shall state the matter"? The reason I gave no notice was because I expected a reply would be given.
Let the Deputy state the matter now.
It is:—
"To ask the President whether an invitation from the Government of the United States of America to the Free State to become a party to the proposed Kellogg Treaty for renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy has been received; whether the terms of the British reply to the United States were communicated to the Executive Council before being sent, and what is the attitude of the Executive Council towards the reservations to the general principle of the pact indicated in the following paragraphs of that reply:
"‘The language of Article 1, as to the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy, renders it desirable that I should remind Your Excellency that there are certain regions of the world the welfare and integrity of which constitute a special and vital interest for our peace and safety.
"‘His Majesty's Government have been at pains to make it clear in the past that interference with these regions cannot be suffered. Their protection against attack is to the British Empire a measure of self-defence.
"‘It must be clearly understood that His Majesty's Government in Great Britain accept the new Treaty upon the distinct understanding that it does not prejudice their freedom of action in this respect.'"
The urgency is simply that the Executive Council may, as it has done on previous occasions, present us with a fait accompli which it would be vain to talk of afterwards.
Can the Deputy tell me how the urgency would affect that?
The matter is one in which I cannot see urgency sufficient to enable this Standing Order to take effect.