I wish to inquire as to why I was not allowed to raise on the Adjournment last night the matter of the Atkins Report——
Business of Dáil.
The Deputy is not in order in asking that question. The Deputy received a reply indicating why it was not allowed.
I wish to point out——
The Deputy is not in order in raising these replies in the Dáil. Has the Deputy any idea of order in the House?
Yes.
If he has, then he should resume his seat, because the Chair has spelled it out for the Deputy and cannot do any more than that.
European Communities Bill: amendment No. 7 and, with No. 7, amendment No. 13. Deputy Oliver Flanagan reported progress.
I would point out further that in Portlaoise——
Now the Deputy is disobeying the Chair and the order of the House. I would ask the Deputy to please leave the House.
This particular firm has an annual income of £150,000 and it has orders on its books for four months and at the present time——
Deputies
Chair, chair.
I do not want to put the Deputy out, but he is acting like a school boy and the Deputy has been long enough here now to know that he is being disorderly.
I believe it is in order that this matter should be debated.
I have no wish to put the Deputy out, but this is not in order. There is a way of raising it, but not at this moment.
This particular matter will not come before the House until perhaps——
Will the Deputy please sit down. I have no wish to put the Deputy out. I know how he feels about this matter, but the Deputy is out of order now and he should, I think, resume his seat.
I do not wish to leave the House. I wish to make a very orderly protest in regard to this matter.
The Deputy should resume his seat and allow business to continue.
If this House does not give time to discuss this particular matter then I can tell you that the Minister is hiding behind you and this House is failing in its duty.
The Minister is not hiding behind me. Would the Deputy please resume his seat?
This is a very important matter.
And this is the Parliament of the country. It is not a street corner.
I agree it is Dáil Éireann and it is a pity the Government have to hide behind you.
Would Deputy Flanagan resume on amendment No. 7, please?
This is a matter in which 90 men are going to lose their jobs.
Deputies
Chair, Chair.
I must point out that this matter will not be allowed to be discussed and, in that, you are letting down this House. If you do not allow time for this matter to be discussed on the Adjournment tonight I will have to continue my protest. It is most unfair.
If the Deputy feels that way about it I would ask him to leave the House.
As you will not allow discussion on this matter, I will leave the House in protest. It is a disgrace. The Minister should be present for this matter to be discussed and the Minister should come into the House now and answer as to why this matter is not being attended to.
Would the Deputy please leave the House and let us get on. I have called Deputy Flanagan on amendment No. 7.
Your attitude to this particular matter is a disgrace.
Deputy Flanagan. This is most disorderly.
It is in no way disorderly. I am speaking about a business which has orders worth a quarter of a million on their books.
Might I suggest to the House that some arrangement should be made to deal with these questions that remain on the Order Paper for months at a time. Some months ago I raised the matter of these questions and I was told something would be done to deal with them. The Ceann Comhairle promised me he would do something about it at the time.
What would the Deputy suggest?
I think they should be rotated in some way. Perhaps we would allow the Taoiseach to answer his questions and then every other Minister should take it in turn.
The Deputy's own party objected to that.
They did not object. That is a typical Fianna Fáil Party remark.
This firm has a quarter of a million pounds of orders on their books.
The matter of Questions has been carefully considered by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. There is nothing the Chair can do about it.
I certainly got no answer from anyone about it. It seems to me to be a simple matter.
If Deputies would not persist in putting so many supplementary questions and making so many speeches we might get on with Questions.
I do not put too many supplementary questions and I ask very short supplementary questions.
On this particular point, the procedure of the House is such——
If I might intervene for a moment: the Reform Committee will be reporting on this.
On a point of order.
——that nothing will be done until 1973 and, by that time, the particular industry may be closed and it will be too late then when all these people will be out of employment.
The Deputy is most disorderly and I will have to call on the Captain of the Guard to remove this disorderly Deputy from the House.
On a point of order.
I am not being disorderly and I feel I am perfectly within my rights in having this matter discussed. It is most unfair.
The Deputy behaving in this manner is an insult to the Parliament of the country. The Deputy is grossly disorderly.
I am not disorderly. When the House will not discuss a matter of this importance, then I feel the House is letting itself down. As I mentioned, I am leaving the House now because this House is failing in its duty to look after the workers and the people. I will have to leave in protest.
Since the Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach is being so helpful, could I ask him when the Reform Committee will meet again? It has not met for months.
The Parliamentary Secretary was just being smart.