Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle) | Oireachtas source

Before I commence the next item of business, I wish to correct the record of the House. Last evening, when I was not in the Chair, Deputy Gerry Adams made a statement which was totally inaccurate. He stated:

I just want to say Sinn Féin was denied its speaking slot this evening by a direct intervention by the Ceann Comhairle. I want to protest about this.

I did no such thing. I want the record corrected. I wish to point out to the House that we strictly adhered to the representation of the various groupings in the House. In case anyone is under any misunderstanding about this, there are now 69 Deputies in the Fine Gael Party who hold the whip, 34 Deputies in the Labour Party, 19 Deputies in Fianna Fáil, 13 Deputies in Sinn Féin, 14 Independents not aligned to the Technical Group, and 16 members of the Technical Group. There are actually 30 Members not aligned to political parties. Therefore, when I made a decision that Independent Deputies would have a right to speak in the House, the slots were allocated entirely proportionately. In fact, in the debate yesterday, Sinn Féin got three speaking slots and the non-aligned Independent Deputies got two slots.

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