Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not think that we can make up the rules as we go along. We have a Dáil reform committee. It has met on quite a number of occasions. It has laid out the Standing Orders of the House. It is a long standing precedent that the Ceann Comhairle, following advice and so forth, adjudicates on issues. Sometimes that adjudication does not find favour with some in the House, but that does not mean that those some can then dictate debates and dictate the agenda because it does not suit. It is not fair to say that the motion lies on the Order Paper. It is a matter of considerable import, and one would have thought that any person tabling a motion of that kind, given the constitutional nature of it and given its profound implications, would be quite prepared to use their Private Members' time to dispose of it and deal with it one way or the other. Instead, the Opposition seems to want to change the ground rules as laid down by the Dáil and interpret them to suit its case.

Before I came to the House, I checked to see if any issues were likely to arise and was told no, quite a constructive Business Committee meeting had taken place to prepare for this week. Every week now, without fail, there are votes on the Order of Business, notwithstanding the Business Committee meeting and ordering the schedule and so on. There is a mechanism for dealing with this and it should have been availed of. It is late in the day, following the tabling of the motion, to say that we must now reform how we do Standing Orders to suit our agenda or a particular agenda. I do not think that is on, quite frankly, and if there is a ruling from the Chair, there comes a time when that ruling has to be accepted. We cannot all be rulers. We cannot all be Ceann Comhairle in this House.

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