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

We will attempt to do that. As I understand it, the procedure is that if the responsible Minister informs the Deputy raising a Topical Issue that he or she is not available to deal with it, that Minister may assign it to a Minister of State with responsibility within his or her Department. However, it cannot be assigned to someone who does not have responsibility without the agreement of the Deputy raising the issue.

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