Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

-----that the arrangement eventually arrived at here yesterday evening was a very unsatisfactory one whereby the Minister gave a statement but no opportunity was provided to Members of the House to ask him questions or to respond to the statement he made. I appreciate that the Ceann Comhairle responded to a request from the Minister to allow him an opportunity to make a statement of personal explanation. However, as I understand it, the rules in regard to statements of personal explanation require such statements to be brief, non-contentious and non-controversial in the political sense and to be such that they do not invite debate. The statement made by the Minister for Defence satisfied none of those conditions. It was highly contentious, highly partisan, highly self-serving and it required an opportunity for a response to be made to it. I do not blame the Ceann Comhairle for that; I blame the Taoiseach. The Government should have provided Government time for that statement to be made and for questions or responses to be made by Members.

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