John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)

I will explain to Members the reason for my decision to name Deputy Ring. It was because Deputy Ring imputed unfairness to the Chair. No such allegation can be made in the House against the Chair. It is my function to be fair to every Member of the House, irrespective of his or her political persuasion or none, and I have sought to do this. The difficulty is that Deputy Ring persisted in saying I was making the rules up as I was going along. Nothing could be further from the truth. The position is set out very clearly in Standing Order 9. I could not take the amendment proposed by Deputy Kenny. I again reassure Members that it is not possible for the Chair to accept an imputation like that. It is not possible to have the integrity of the Chair undermined in that way because if that were to happen, the integrity of the House itself would be undermined and I could not stand for that. I must again ask Deputy Ring to leave the House.

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