Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Most of us were taken by surprise when we saw this on the Order Paper to be taken without debate.

Those of us who lived through the period when this report was commissioned and so on understand how fraught an era that was. It would be useful to have a more considered period before the report is withdrawn.

Perhaps the Ceann Comhairle could inform the House, from a procedural point of view, how a report that has been formally laid before the House can be unlaid. One lawyer has suggested that one can no more unlay a report than a hen can unlay an egg. The report is there, has been promulgated and is accessible. This probably merits some more considered debate than simply removing it. I support that proposal.

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