Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on this motion. The Committee on Procedure, chaired by the Ceann Comhairle and reflecting the membership of the Houses of the Oireachtas, of which I am a member, discussed this matter at its meeting in March. The committee recommended amending Standing Order 27 to provide for a prayer and a 30 second period of silent reflection at the start of business each day. This motion has also been discussed by the members of the Business Committee on a number of occasions. Indeed, the Business Committee had agreed to put it through, without debate, before Easter but that was challenged on the floor of the House. We then agreed to have this debate tonight, but there was a furore about that this morning in terms of the time. It is still only an eight hour working day from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. One might think that the timing was deliberate, but it was not. It was just a question of the running of the order of the day.

The Dáil prayer is not as unusual as its opponents claim. In fact, a significant number of legislative bodies in Europe and further afield, including the UK, South Africa, Canada, the United States of America and Australia have either a period of prayer or silent reflection before the business of the day begins. Although the question of the Dáil prayer is occasionally brought up by some Members of the Oireachtas, admittedly more often in recent times, I have yet to encounter any kind of widespread resistance to the practice among the majority of Members. It seems to be a niche preoccupation of those on the hard left. It has certainly found no traction among the majority of Deputies or the public. Respect for cultural or religious views should not debar us from acknowledging the specific heritage of our country and from finding a way to give expression to that in a way that the majority of people do not find offensive. In point of fact, the US Supreme Court quite recently, during the term of former President Obama, extended the rights of individual state legislatures to include a prayer in their proceedings and judged that this does not violate the anti-establishment clause of the US Constitution. That decision was made during President Obama's term in office. Our democratic structures should not be hostile to the practice but should accommodate it in as reasonable a manner as possible. I believe that wholeheartedly.

Members have brought the issues of the Citizens' Assembly, repealing the eighth amendment into this debate and the current maternity hospital saga as a deflection. I spoke to a colleague earlier who is a member of an Oireachtas committee of which I am not a member. A Muslim delegation appeared before that committee - all delegations of all faiths and none are welcome here - and they had to stand for ten minutes while the delegation prayed. That was fine. That was the wish of the delegation which was respected by the committee. That is what happened. This is a surreal debate. People are trying to bring many other issues into it.

The Committee on Procedure, following discussion, decided to add the 30 second reflection to allow people of whatever belief to stand and wait. I feel very sorry that some Deputies feel like second-class citizens outside the door. I was late this morning and I waited outside. The ushers asked me to wait. I sympathise with people who do not want that or who feel like that but I see people every morning barging in here when the prayer is being said. That is not showing much respect or tolerance for the majority decision.

I have heard Deputies saying that they will not stand for the prayer. Nobody is going to make them stand or make a show of them. That is their right if they want to do that. That said, there is a code of practice in this House. There is also a dress code, which people want to disobey. Either we want to be elected to Parliament and represent the people or we do not. I believe that people have the right to pray. We have had a reasonable debate tonight. Some people do not want to speak on the matter and did not come in for the debate and that is fine.

I hope this will be the end of the matter because it has been discussed by the Committee on Procedure and the Business Committee. We agreed a way forward but that was upturned here on the following Tuesday. We then agreed at our last meeting before we broke for Easter to find time for this debate in today's schedule. That was scheduled and nobody objected to it at the time at the Business Committee or to the allocation of five minutes per group. Today, however, for the media and for antics and semantics, people objected and said they would walk into the Chamber in the middle of the prayer. They keep slating people but this is a majority Parliament. When the majority decides that it does not want the prayer, I will accept that.

I am a member of the Committee on Procedure and the Business Committee. I am getting tired of meetings, special meetings and agreeing procedure, passing that on to a rapporteur to read out and then the rug is pulled out from underneath it. It is farcical. We are supposed to have new politics-----

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