I call the Government assistant Whip, Deputy Seán Canney, to issue a statement regarding the Order of the House.
Business of Dáil
It is proposed, notwithstanding the Order of Business of the Dáil of yesterday, 17 April 2018, that immediately following the taking of the Topical Issue Debate today, No. 26a, a statement by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, shall be taken. The statement of the Minister shall not exceed ten minutes, following which each party or group in opposition shall have six minutes. The six minutes shall consist of alternating questions and answers, each of which shall not exceed one minute. The Minister shall have five minutes for a statement on the conclusion of the debate. The opening statement, questions, answers and the concluding statement shall not exceed 57 minutes, in total. Private Members' business shall take place on the conclusion of this item for two hours.
Is that agreed?
No. I have some concerns about that format in that it does not allow for a genuine session of questions and answers. First, six minutes for a party with 45 Deputies is wholly disproportionate with six minutes for a party of five or six. I am not saying all 45 members will be speaking. I have no problem with anyone getting six minutes or more. I would have believed ten minutes should be a minimum for a party.
My real point is that if a Deputy asks a question, it is more useful if the response follows it. It seems to me that what is happening here is that any amount of questions will be rolled in, with six minutes-----
It is a question and a reply.
Is it a question and reply, followed by a question and reply? Deputy Canney said five minutes at the end to sum up.
That is fine, once I know there is a facility for questions and replies. I do believe, however, that six minutes is very tight.
I suggest we wait to see how it progresses.
To clarify, the allowance of six minutes each involves a question for one minute and a reply for one minute, a question for one minute and a reply for one minute, and a question for one minute and a reply for one minute. The five minutes at the end are for concluding remarks.
Everyone gets three one-minute questions.
This formula has been used before and it worked well.
There was a time in the Dáil when one could be 35 minutes answering.
I know. We are not going to go there now. We must take the sos. Is the proposal agreed? Agreed.
Sitting suspended at 2.40 p.m. and resumed at 3.40 p.m.