Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 1 Mar 1988

Vol. 378 No. 6

Business of Dáil.

Mr. Dukes

On a point of order, before Question Time begins I must point out to you, Sir, that the list of questions for the Taoiseach today is incomplete. I had a question down to the Taoiseach today, as had other Members of the House, which has been disallowed — and I have your communication of this morning — on the grounds that the questions anticipate statements to be made in the Dáil this afternoon. It seems to me, A Cheann Comhairle, it would be fitting, right and proper that before statements are made we should have the opportunity of teasing out any information the Taoiseach has so that our statements later in the afternoon can be better informed. I would like to protest, a Cheann Comhairle, at the decision you have made in this case.

It seems to me that statements made in this House could only gain from the maximum amount of information possible being available to Members of the House before making those statements. It seems that on that ground the operation of the rule as indicated by the Ceann Comhairle obstructs debate rather than helps it.

Mr. Kelly

Before you deal with what Deputy Dukes has said, will you allow me, Sir, to add a short comment. Essentially, I wanted to raise the same matter but on a sightly different level. If the case should be that the Taoiseach's statement which everyone will be interested in does not contain answers to their specific questions which were put down last Wednesday by myself and other Deputies, will you allow latitude for those Deputies who put questions down and now find them put off the paper because of the Taoiseach's forthcoming statement to ask the Taoiseach questions when his statement is complete?

An Ceann Comharile

It is not unusual for the Chair to allow such questions.

The Taoiseach

I want to make it clear that my only intention was to be helpful. I considered whether it would be more helpful to Deputies to deal with these matters by way of Question Time or by way of statement and my understanding was that the majority of Deputies would prefer statements. However, I assure the Deputies that my only wish was to give as much information as possible.

Mr. Dukes

I am not levelling any accusation at the Taoiseach. What I am saying is that the interpretation of the rules of procedure in this House, as you have laid out, which would seem to preclude questions on an issue where there are going to be statements later on is, in my view, not very sensible and does not help the process of debate.