On a point of order, before the business proper starts, could I ask you to indicate the reasons for the refusal of the Standing Order 30 motion which I sought to move? Your office has indicated that it is not in order because it is a Friday. Could you explain how you came to that conclusion?
Business of Dáil.
I will be happy to, Deputy, if you will permit me to introduce the Order of Business.
I understood from the Standing Orders that this matter needs to be dealt with before the commencement of public business.
Is this the normal procedure?
Yes.
I can deal with it now, Deputy, but I would have preferred if you had allowed me to introduce the Order of Business.
I take the view in respect to the request I have had from Deputy Alan Dukes and your good self, Deputy De Rossa, invoking Standing Order 30, that Standing Order 30 does not provide for leave to move the Adjournment of the Dáil on a Friday. Friday is not a normal sitting day of the Dáil and requires a special Order of the House to sit on that day. Therefore, in my view, the provision or application of Standing Order 30 applies to proceedings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thurdays only. Fridays are excluded.
I must disagree.
Allow the Chair to proceed.
Standing Order 30——
Deputy Dukes, you are defying the Chair. Allow the Chair complete his statement.
I beg your pardon, but I think your statement is in error.
That may be so.
Let us discuss it so.
That is my interpretation of the Standing Order, having carefully considered it, and if Deputy Dukes or any Member of this House feel my interpretation is wrong, please take it to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges quickly and let it be decided.
The Standing Order itself says that leave shall be given to make these motions which shall be moved at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday or Wednesday or 3.30 p.m. on a Thursday or at such hour on the day on which the request is made as the Dáil may appoint. This is the day on which the request is made. You have full liberty under the Standing Order to allow this to be made at such hour today as the Dáil may appoint. I propose that you reconsider your view on this and allow this request be put before the House.
I take the view that it will not be moved today. If it were intended that it be taken on a Friday, Friday would have been stipulated in Standing Orders. It is not.
No, Sir. The Standing Order specifically says "or at such hour on the day on which the request is made as the Dáil may appoint". That Standing Order gives you, Sir, and this House, full liberty to take a motion of this kind at any time that this House sees fit and I propose to you, Sir, as the proper democratic procedure in this Parliament, that you allow that motion to be put now to determine whether the Members of this House want this Bill to be recommitted at Second Stage, and that you allow us to express our strong view — and you know that there is a strong view in this House — and that that be done forthwith.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
Since there is a difference of opinion on the matter it might be referred to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges but my view on the matter stands.
That is a complete waste of time, and you know it.
I want to say this, Sir — and I am holding myself back, I can assure you——
(Interruptions.)
Just wait till I get started on you crowd. There is the villain of the piece in the middle, that cowardly little Deputy——
(Interruptions.)
The muzzled Deputy.
Where was he for today's "Morning Ireland", or did he get his orders from the Minister for Justice to stay away?
(Interruptions.)
He did not have the guts to open his mouth.
He was frightened to explain himself. He cannot run away from the media or the general public.
(Interruptions.)
Let us have some order and decorum.
It seems to be a feature of that constituency, Deputy Callely.
He is allowed to speak when Deputy Burke tells him.
(Interruptions.)
I am now asking you formally, a Cheann Comhairle, in your capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, to call a meeting of that committee as quickly as possible to review this matter, and I am telling you now, Sir — and I am giving you formal notice — that at the Order of Business next Tuesday I will raise the same matter again so that there can be no doubt of the propriety. I want to tell the House then that this House will have the opportunity to recover from this most undemocratic move carried out by Minister Burke yesterday, a man who sat there through that part of our business yesterday looking like a hung sheep——
He sat on Deputy Callely as well.
——but clearly was acting in direct defiance of the orders of the Taoiseach who put him in those two portfolios to do God knows what — what we all suspect — and we will get that Minister back before this House——
Why were the Deputies opposite not in the House? They were in abstentia.
The actions of the Fianna Fáil Senators has obviously rubbed off on the Fianna Fáil Party in the Dáil.
Deputy Shatter is shouting down the Chair as usual. Deputy Dukes has made a request to me that this matter be referred to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges as a matter of urgency. I accede to that request and I will, therefore, have it brought before the committee as soon as a meeting can be convened.
I should like to ask the Chair to indicate how soon he believes such a meeting can be convened because clearly this is an urgent matter. It is important that the House should move very quickly to restore public confidence in the House in view of the deplorable action by the Minister yesterday.
I can do no more in the matter.
Opposition Deputies can do so by being present for debates.
I am proceeding to the Order of Business.
The Ministers opposite are going to find out today what it is like to be here.
I must call on the Tánaiste to introduce the Order of Business.
On a point of order——
I have heard the Deputy's point of order.
With respect, I put a question to the Chair. I asked the Chair when he expects a meeting of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to be convened.
As soon as possible.
Will that be today? Will it be this morning?
Not on a Friday; Friday is a day of abstinence.
I will be happy to discuss the matter with the Whips.
May I clarify that this meeting will not depend on the Government Whips? I presume it will not depend on them.
The Deputy knows full well that all parties in the House are represented on the Committee on Procedure and Privileges and that it is their prerogative to place an item of the kind referred to on the agenda. That is not a matter for the Chair, the Government Chief Whip or anybody else.
If the Government Whip refuses to provide Members for such a meeting, then no meeting can take place.
I will do my best to convene the meeting. Let us not jump to conclusions.
Given the unfortunate atmosphere that now pervades the House because of what happened yesterday, I suggest that the House should adjourn and that the Committee on Procedure and Privileges should meet before any further business takes place. I should like to ask the Chair to agree to that.
A meeting could be held within one hour.
I will convene the meeting requested as quickly as possible. I have no more to say on the matter and I am calling on the Tánaiste to introduce the business of the day.