: Might I inquire from you, in relation to a special notice question, which I tabled to ask the Minister for Justice or the Minister for Health to explain——
Business of Dáil .
: The Deputy may not raise a matter which has already been decided.
: I am asking you why you ruled this question out of order. Do you not consider that there is sufficient public importance attached to it?
: The reasons were already conveyed to the Deputy. It is not in order to raise it in the House now.
: I want the House and the public to know why a question which I consider to be important——
: The Deputy must be well aware that if questions, which are not allowed as Private Notice Questions, were to be approached in this manner, then all of them would be raised without permission. I will not permit the Deputy to raise the question in this way.
: No. I must dispute this with the Chair. The matter is of such public importance the question should be allowed and the matter should be discussed in the House.
: All right.
: A Cheann Comhairle, I would like some courtesy. I would prefer if this matter were dealt with at Question Time but, since you have ruled it out of order, I propose, with your permission, to raise it on the adjournment.
: I will communicate with the Deputy.
: On a point of order, was a precedent not set in this House by Deputy David Andrews raising a question addressed to the Minister for Justice at the time, now Senator Cooney, following a jail break? He was allowed to raise a question similar to this as a Private Notice Question.
: As a matter of urgency.
: The Chair is not responsible for any lack of order there may have been in the past.
: Is this a repudiation of the book of precedents in this House? Do precedents mean nothing in this House any longer? This is the most extraordinary statement I have ever heard from the Chair.
: The Chair is not responsible for any lack of order made in the House in the past.
: The Chair did not use the word "made" the first time.
: Would the Chair point out to us which are the disorderly precedents?
: Deputies have frequently sought to——
: The Chair is protecting the Government.
: The Deputy insists on being disorderly and then expects courtesy.
: I am making a protest.
: Deputies have frequently endeavoured to raise matters which have not been permitted as Private Notice Questions and in every single case that I am aware of it was pointed out that this was not in order.
: We are talking about a particular precedent.
: There is no precedent.
: It was suggested there is a precedent.
: The Deputy must be well aware that in the interests of the better conduct of the House and in the interests of the decorum of the House questions which are disorderly cannot be permitted. If every Deputy refused permission to raise a Private Notice Question were subsequently allowed to raise the matter in this manner we would have all Private Notice Questions raised irrespective of whether or not they were in order.
: The point at issue is whether or not there is a precedent. That is a legitimate point of order and it arises because it has been suggested there is a precedent.
: Is the Deputy suggesting that because of some instance in the past, of which I am not aware, I must permit any Deputy now who wishes to raise a matter of his question being shot down——
: I am suggesting that if the case involved is identical —that is, the escape of someone from custody—is raised at the first opportunity and there is a precedent for it being allowed, then that precedent should be followed.
: Every Private Notice Question is adjudged on its merits.
: The Chair cannot consider that this has not sufficient merit to merit discussion.
: The reason was conveyed to the Deputy and it is not in order for the Deputy to try to raise the matter now.
: On a point of order, in the past when an Estimate was coming up for discussion in the House the practice was to circulate the Estimate. Tomorrow we will be discussing the Estimate for Education and at this point in time I have not received a copy of the Estimate.
: Is there a precedent for that?
: Order. The Chair has no responsibility for that but I am sure the Deputy's point will be brought to the attention of the Minister.