Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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24. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she has instructed staff in her Department to routinely request the withdrawal of Parliamentary Questions before they are officially responded to; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18696/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The practice of withdrawing Parliamentary Questions (PQs) has been in place for over 20 years and has assisted the Department to cope with the large volume of PQs it receives annually. The Department provides the Deputy with the relevant information in relation to the individual query and in a majority of cases subsequently confirms this information in writing. In general, Deputies find this service helpful as they can often receive the written response quicker than the formal PQ reply.