Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I have a question for the Ceann Comhairle. Last Tuesday, I examined the lottery of parliamentary questions. The Fine Gael and Labour parties tabled 120 questions but only managed to get four or five in the first ten Ordinary Questions. Miraculously, we had ten out of ten in the last ten questions. How did that happen? I put you on notice, a Cheann Comhairle, that I am dissatisfied with the lottery system. It is flawed. It is like the electronic voting system, about which the Tánaiste might have something to say in a minute. I want to officially request that the system be changed so the Ceann Comhairle will first adjudicate on the eligibility of the questions and that the lottery takes place afterwards. The current system whereby the Ceann Comhairle adjudicates on the eligibility of the questions after the lottery makes a mockery of the lottery system. I am asking that he does that without——

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