Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

On a point of order, that is not necessarily true. I and others have recent experience of line Ministers refusing to answer a question and it being disallowed and referred to the Department of the Taoiseach. We have also had recent experience of tabling a question to a line Minister who refused to answer the question on the basis of not being responsible to the House and having the Minister to whom it was referred return it unanswered on the basis that it was not his or her responsibility to answer. There are issues which must be dealt with.

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