Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment was due to deal with Committee Stage of the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018 today. Instead, at 3 p.m. there will be a meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment to consider the approach the Government has taken to block the Bill. This matter is related to the Order of Business. To help the committee in its work, I ask the Ceann Comhairle whether we can seek advice from the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, regarding the constitutional position the Government has taken in this case, which I believe breaches the rights of Deputies and Senators to go about their work in the way set out in the Constitution. I am keen to know whether that legal advice is available before the committee meeting commences because I think what the Government has done is constitutionally flawed. It has treated the Oireachtas and the representatives of the people in a way that is the worst egregious example of blocking our ability to do our work.

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