Notice to Raise Matter Under Standing Order 29.

Mr. Larkin (Junior)

I have already given you, A Chinn Comhairle, private notice of my desire to raise a matter on the motion for the adjournment to-night. May I inquire if I have your permission to do so?

I have got here a copy of the question which the Deputy desires to raise as a matter of urgent public importance. He had the courtesy to give me a copy yesterday, though he wanted no decision till to-day. The matters on which the Chair has to be satisfied before allowing a question to be raised in the manner requested by Deputy Larkin are (1) that the matter is definite, (2) that it is of public importance, and (3) that it is urgent. Deputy Larkin's case is, briefly, that he wishes to raise two allied subjects—the interference by the Gárda authorities with a meeting, or preparation for a meeting, held in Dublin, to prepare a petition for the reprieve of a man under sentence of death and, secondly, the action of the Press Censor in suppressing all newspaper references to the same meeting. I am satisfied that the notice given fulfils the first two requirements—that the matter is definite and is of public importance. As regards the third— and, from the point of view of the Standing Order, the essential—requirement, namely, that of urgency, I am not satisfied that his notice is one contemplated by the Standing Order. In this case; the Deputy's notice appears in substance to be censure of administrative action already taken and such censure can, and should, be dealt with, in the ordinary way, by motion after due notice. Accordingly, I do not consider that the motion is one contemplated by Standing Order 29.

Mr. Larkin (Junior)

With all deference and respect for your position, I must hold that your decision is arbitrary. May I point out that the situation in question is not only of interest to the House as an administrative matter but is one of general public importance, in so far as the issues I raise affect, and arise out of, a much bigger issue? The point I want to bring to attention is that, under the Constitution, citizens are granted certain rights. There has been deliberate interference on the part of the police and the Censor with those rights—deliberate to the extent that men have been arrested and are still held in jail, deliberate to the extent that not only have notices in the Press been suppressed because of mention of the name of a man now lying under sentence of death, but even notices containing no such references have been prohibited publication in the Press. Even to-day, a bare notice of an intention to hold a series of Masses between to-night and to-morrow morning has also come under prohibition by the Censor. My understanding at the time was that those powers were given to the Censor to defend this State against its external enemies and not to interfere with the rights of citizens. Last night, members of this House were forced to protest because they were denied any other opportunity outside this House, except one meeting, of exercising their ordinary, Constitutional rights. The police are here to support the law and enforce it and not to break the law. The Censor is here to protect this country and its citizens, and I suggest that these are matters coming under the administration of Ministers and proper to this House. I suggest that they are urgent matters because they are part of a situation which has led many ordinary citizens to believe that a man under sentence of death is there because——