Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 7 Jul 1982

Vol. 98 No. 8

Allocation of Time: Motion.

I move:

That, from the first day of sitting after the Summer recess, notwithstanding anything contained in Standing Orders in relation to motions other than Government motions, the speech of a Senator proposing such a motion shall not exceed twenty minutes; the Senator proposing, or such other Senator who has not already spoken as he may authorise in that behalf, shall be entitled to ten minutes for a speech in reply; and the speech of any other Senator in the course of the debate shall not exceed ten minutes.

Perhaps I should say a few words about this. The reason that the time allowed has been shortened is not certainly in any effort to stop people from saying all they want to say but to have regard to the fact that three hours is the time allowed for a motion. That means, under the existing system, that if you allow for the proposer, and possibly for an intervention by the Minister, there is probably time for only eight Members of the House to speak. There are many motions coming before the House on which more than eight Members would want to speak. For that reason it is proposed and recommended by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges that the time should be shortened to ten minutes and in that way permit many more Members to speak on a particular motion. It is a provisional change. It can be reviewed in due course, but I think it is worth trying for a while.

I am glad that the Leader of the House has indicated that this is, in a sense, a trial. There are Members of this House who find it difficult really to get warmed up in less than five minutes and they might indeed find that ten minutes is rather restrictive. It is something that we should look at. It may well be that if we do find it restrictive we could revert to the 15 minutes and extend the three hours to four hours so as not to be confined to a number of speakers. Of course, this would have the disadvantage of spreading out a debate more. What has been proposed by the committee is the proper thing. Let us experiment and find out, by trial, what the best arrangement will be.

I agree that it is a matter for experimentation. As Senator Dooge has said, some Senators are barely warmed up after ten minutes. It is true, at the other end, that some speakers can be shut up only with great difficulty after 15 minutes. Although as a member of the committee, I went along with the time limit suggested here, I am not terribly happy about it. I think that ten minutes is unduly restrictive. Of course I am aware that some people with elephantine memories can recall that some years ago I said that anything worth saying could be said in ten minutes. It is one of those famous last phrases that one lives to be abashed about. But then we have famous precedents for that: an Irish speaker of immortal memory lived to preside over Irish politics for 40 years after he had said that no matter what happened he was so sick and tired of politics he was going to quit immediately.

Despite what Senators Ryan and Dooge have said it has been my experience, on most Private Motions, that there is a kind of a natural time-span within which people adjust themselves. There were very few motions when three hours was not enough and most speakers do not take up their 15 minutes. I welcome this motion. I think we should look at the ten minutes specification very tentatively.

Senator E. Ryan to conclude.

I do not think I have anything further to say. As I said, this is temporary, we can look at it again and, if it is found to be unduly restrictive then we can revert to 15 minutes. I have not got any strong feelings on it but I think it is worth trying.

Question put and agreed to.
Barr
Roinn