Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle) | Oireachtas source

The matter will be brought to the attention of the Minister by the Minister of State.

The general issue that Deputy Ó Caoláin raised is of concern to me. We have been trying to arrive at a point where Ministers who have Topical Issues tabled to them would correspond with my office or with the Deputy concerned directly to let them know whether they will be available or not to take the Topical Issue, thereby giving the Deputy the opportunity to defer the Topical Issue to another stage. That is what we all want to see happening. It is important that we accept that Ministers have a lot of responsibilities and that they cannot be in two places at once, but equally they have to treat the Topical Issues debate here seriously.

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