Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before I proceed I wish to say that I am very reluctant to interrupt a Deputy or the Minister while they are trying to ask a question or give an answer. We are, however, consistently breaking the time barrier for this debate, which means that somebody at the end of the time allotted for this debate is not going to have his or her question answered. I ask for everyone's co-operation. A slot is six and a half minutes with 30 seconds for an introduction. This does not seem to be a problem at all. The Minister is then given two minutes to reply and there are four minutes for supplementary queries and responses, comprising one minute for the Deputy, one minute for the Minister, another minute for the Deputy and another minute for the Minister. When I interrupt, it is because I want to let Deputies know that we need to keep things moving to ensure everyone gets a fair play. I have probably just taken up one minute saying this, so we will move on pretty rapidly.

See this speech in context