Before proceeding to the order of business, with the permission of the Chair, I desire to make a personal statement with regard to an announcement made from the Chair yesterday.
Personal Explanation by a Deputy.
That announcement is not open to discussion.
With all due respect, Sir, I do not propose to discuss the announcement, but the announcement itself in being associated with a statement of mine will, in my belief, have an adverse effect on my public reputation on the eve of an election, and I do not think it would be the desire of the Chair that that should be so.
If I had been in my place yesterday——
I regret that the Deputy was not.
I got no notification, private or otherwise——
That is so.
——that such an announcement would be made.
That is true.
And I claim for the consideration of the Chair the right in the interests of my own reputation to make a brief personal statement.
No charge has been made against the Deputy.
I am aware of that.
It is left to the House to judge — that is all — if and when it comes before the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
I am aware of the fact that no charge has been made, but anybody reading the bald announcement will agree that it must create a public suspicion in the minds of a great number of people that I was responsible either for gross disrespect to the Chair or perjury. Now to leave a Deputy resting——
There is no suggestion whatever that the Deputy did not swear what he thought was correct.
A suggestion may or may not have been there, but that is the suspicion it gives rise to and to leave a Deputy resting for weeks, or possibly months, under such suspicion is not fair to the Deputy. I submit that to the Chair for a ruling.
I am afraid the matter is not open to discussion because it would raise what has been raised before the tribunal or the action of the tribunal itself. The Ceann Comhairle simply leaves it to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. I am not prepared to hear any discussion on it.
I do not ask permission of the Chair to discuss the matter. I ask permission of the Chair to make a personal statement — not to enter into a discussion of the matter.
A statement on what?
A statement with regard to my position vis-á-vis the announcement. Unquestionably such a statement would have been listened to yesterday if I had been here; and I would have been here if I had got any notification — no matter how inconvenient it might have been. I read it in the evening paper. I submit that Parliament should give me the right to make a personal explanation without going into details.
I do not see how it is possible to go into an explanation of what was said at the tribunal without discussing what was said.
I have already made it clear to the Chair that I do not intend to go into details as to what I said at the tribunal. That is on record and I stand by it.
May I submit, on a point of order, that if any Deputy in this House believes his honour to be aspersed, surely it has been the practice of the House to allow that Deputy to make a short statement of personal explanation on which there can be no debate or comment? The Chair may think that the Deputy takes too delicate a view and other Deputies may feel that the Deputy is too sensitive. Surely, however, the rule has always been that where a Deputy feels himself called upon to make a short statement by way of personal explanation you, Sir, have always accorded that permission on the understanding that there will be no comment or debate.
It depends very much on the nature of the statement.
I think, Sir, you always, heretofore, held the view that you would entertain a reasonable expression of apprehension on the part of a Deputy, even though you felt he was being a little too fastidious. I respectfully submit in this case, if Deputy O'Higgins feels that the matter calls for a short statement, that in deference to his feeling on the matter you might exercise a discretion in his favour and allow a short statement.
I will hear the Deputy, but if I think he is going too far I will have to take action.
The position is this. Yesterday an announcement was made from the Chair with regard to my evidence given on oath before the Locke Tribunal. I got no notification, private, official or unofficial that such an announcement was going to be made. If I had got such a notification, I would have discussed the matter with the Ceann Comhairle and, if necessary, have been in my place when the announcement was made. In my opinion, the bald announcement, featured as it was and unassociated with any statement by me, affects my reputation adversely, although I admit that such a thought, obviously, never entered the mind of the Chair. I do believe that the announcement is likely to create an impression or a suspicion in the minds of a great many people that I was either guilty of perjury or gross disrespect for the Chair.
The second point is what I want to have discussed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
That may be discussed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
That is the only aspect that concerns the Chair.
I want to take the earliest opportunity to declare that I have been 19 years a member of this House and that during that 19 years, as far as I can recollect, I have never been disrespectful to the Chair.
That is arguing the matter that the Deputy says is to come before the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
That is referring to the past 19 years.
Very good.
That is not coming before the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. I had no intention at least in my remarks of being in any way disrespectful to the Chair. I want to place that on record as early as possible. Any reference I did make to the subject matter I am deliberately refraining from touching upon. I have, however, to say that all the statements I made were made on oath, having sworn before God that the statements I would make would be the truth according to my best belief. My contract with the Almighty was to adhere to that bond. If I deviated from that bond or contract, it would be up to me to apologise to the Almighty and make my peace with Him. Whether my opinion was right or wrong, if I adhered to that sworn bond to tell what I believed to be true and to keep faith with the Almighty, I could not consider under any circumstances tendering an apology or making an apologia to any earthly tribunal because I kept my trust with God.