Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I believe that all of us in this House, and the Deputy, are familiar with the Constitution, the law and Standing Orders. We all know what they are. There are motions of confidence, financial motions, Private Members' motions and legislation. They are all different. Legislation trumps Private Members' motions. We passed legislation in this House - I think almost every party supported it - to bring in a temporary winter eviction ban to end on 31 March. It was introduced by the Government and supported by the vast majority of Opposition parties, if not all of them. A Private Members' motion cannot trump legislation. That is simply the position as to how our Standing Orders and our rules work.

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