asked the Minister for Local Government why Dublin Corporation are closing the roadway which would provide access to Emmet road, Inchicore, for the residents of St. Michael's Estate.
Ceisteanna — Questions Oral Answers. - Closing of Dublin Road.
61.
There is no information about this matter in my Department.
I asked the Minister why Dublin Corporation are closing the roadway which would provide access to Emmet Road, Inchicore, for the residents of St. Michael's Estate and he said there is no such information in his Department. I am depending on the Minister for this information. I would deem it a favour if he could ascertain this information.
The Deputy does not have to ask the Minister for favours.
Deputy Molloy is the Minister for Local Government. I think the Minister has a duty to provide information in this House. If this continues I will just have to quit this House because we are not getting the information from the Minister.
The Deputy is directing his inquiries to the wrong source.
I am not directing my inquiries to the wrong source. There is no public body called Dublin Corporation and, therefore, I must obtain the information from the Minister for Local Government.
The local authority with jurisdiction over the Dublin city area is the authority to which this question should be directed. I will readily make available any information I have in the Department in reply to questions but I cannot make available information which is not in the Department.
Have this body calling themselves Dublin Corporation the right to close a public roadway without his permission?
Is the Deputy saying they have closed a roadway over which a public right-of-way existed?
I am asking the Minister have this body calling themselves Dublin Corporation the right to close a public roadway without his permission?
If there is a public right-of-way involved——
There is.
They have no authority to extinguish a public right-of-way without my consent.
I am saying that they are closing it and the Minister says he has no information. Therefore, I can only assume he is not interested. It is a matter for his Department and I am now asking him if he will have it investigated.
I do not really know whether a public right-of-way existed.
I am telling the Minister that a public right-of-way existed and, in view of that, I am asking him if he will investigate this matter.
The Attorney General is the proper authority to protect public rights-of-way.
The Minister for Local Government is responsible for this in so far as he must give permission for closures of public rights-of-way. A public right-of-way exists here and it is proposed to close this roadway and I am asking the Minister what action he proposes to take in this matter.
Question No. 62.
This question is of vital interest to people in this area.
I am quite satisfied that if a public right-of-way existed here my consent would have been requested by Dublin Corporation for its extinguishment. I am not clear from the question or the supplementary questions whether it is a road over which there is a public right-of-way.
I am telling the Minister that it is a road over which there is a public right-of-way. In view of that statement will he investigate the matter?
The Deputy is saying that there is a public right-of-way over it. I do not know whether that is true.
If the Minister does not know, will he investigate it?
A public right-of-way is a question of fact.
Will the Minister investigate it?
If the Deputy directs his question to Dublin Corporation——
I am asking the Minister as Minister for Local Government if he will investigate it?
I cannot investigate every highway in Dublin city. It is a matter for Dublin Corporation.
On a point of order, it would appear that we are to be treated by the Minister with the same sort of arrogance as the Minister's predecessor displayed in this House before he left it so unceremoniously. In the interests of the proper running of the national Parliament may I suggest that we should not have these sort of antics in the House any longer?
On a point of order, I want to say that I object——
What is the point of order?
——to the manner in which the Minister——
That is not a point of order and the Deputy knows it.
It is the Minister's job, when he is asked a question, to investigate it locally.
That is not a point of order.
(Interruptions.)
Has a Minister the right to refuse to answer a question?
The Minister has the right to give any answer which he sees fit in the House and the Chair has no control over the kind of answer given.
I am asking has he the right to refuse to answer?
He has the right.
Has he the right to refuse to answer questions on the Order Paper?
Yes, and the Deputy can raise it otherwise. The Minister has the right and the Chair cannot compel him to answer.
I told the Minister that there is a right-of-way and I asked him if he would investigate this matter. I am still awaiting an answer. Will the Minister investigate it?
The Deputy knows there will be a new roadway there.
I am asking the Minister if he will investigate this matter.
I want to make my position quite clear. It does not matter who the Minister is or which party he comes from. Any person in my position must take some stand on this question. If the Department is involved I will readily make the information available. I cannot be expected to ask officials in my Department to use their time in scouring each local authority for information requested about minor matters which is available from the local authority if the question is asked of the local authority.
If any Deputy can truthfully tell me that he has sought information from a local authority to which he felt he was entitled and did not get it, then by all means I will assist him if he feels I should pursue the matter further. It is a wrong approach for Deputies from all sides of the House to expect any Minister for Local Government to involve his staff in this time-wasting procedure. It is not that I am reluctant to answer questions. I am reluctant to commit the time of my staff. We are a very important Department, as Deputies know, involved in the construction of houses and roads and other major matters. I think the Deputy will be reasonable and accept the point I have made.
I am prepared to listen.
It would be very unfair of me and very remiss of me if I were to waste the time of my officials on making inquiries from local authorities about matters on which they have no information themselves and in which they were not directly involved and for which they were not directly responsible. I would appeal to Deputies to exercise some discretion in the type of questions they address to me. If they have any difficulty in getting information from a local authority I will give them every assistance and will try to get it for them if it is available.
Was it not always the practice in this House that if a Minister was asked a question the answer to which was not in this Department, he got one of his officials to make inquiries by phone or by letter from the local authority concerned and gave the reply in this House? Would it not have been far better than wasting ten minutes of the time of this House in arguing, as has been done today, for the Minister to have got one of his officials to make a phone call or send a letter to get information which obviously Deputy O'Connell cannot obtain himself?
I listened to the Minister but I should like to hear him answer Deputy Tully first.
Until Deputy Boland took over it was always the practice of Ministers for Local Government to be courteous.
I would always hope to be courteous.
The Minister was until a few months ago.
I would certainly be anxious to be courteous and to give information.
Question No. 62.
The Minister is prepared to co-operate and I appreciate this. It is nice to hear this. I would ask him if he would investigate this matter and also as I cannot find out from Dublin Corporation the information requested in Questions Nos. 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46, if he will get that information for me too. I cannot get it from Dublin Corporation because of the fact that there is no city council. I am saying this seriously. That is why I put these questions on the Order Paper.
There is a city manager to whom the Deputy can address his correspondence and he will readily make available to the Deputy any information which he requests, if he has the information.
Question No. 62.
Will the Minister get the information requested at Question No. 61 for me, please?
If the Deputy can assure me that he has written to the corporation and has got no satisfaction from them——
I have written.
Has the Deputy written to the city manager?
I have written to the planning department of Dublin Corporation.
All right. I will accept that. I will get the Deputy that information.