Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

As for No. 10, it is proposed to refer this motion without debate to the committee. The proposal to send Irish troops to Lebanon is such an important issue that as part of the triple lock, this House should debate it for some time. Moreover, the situation is compounded because not alone is the motion being referred to the committee without debate, it is proposed to return the motion to the House on Thursday without the possibility of debate at that time either. The Chief Whip has ordained that there can be no debate when the matter comes back from the committee to the House. In many ways, this pre-empts a possible decision of the committee and it would be better to clarify the matter now. Perhaps the Taoiseach will give some indication of a period of time for debate in this House.

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