Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. Any neutral person considering the current process might say what happens here is very unfair and undemocratic. To have the governing parties of the day assigning office space means that Members can be disrupted. We all have the same mandate, as the Minister has already noted, and everybody should have the same entitlement to speaking rights and office accommodation. Deputy Mathews experienced major disruption and he was treated appallingly at the time. We need to ensure such cases are not repeated. Deputies Creighton, Timmins and I have sought to depoliticise the current process and ensure it is done above politics. The decisions should be made by an independent person, the Secretary General of the Houses of the Oireachtas. The powers to allocate office accommodation should lie with that official and not a Government Chief Whip.

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