Late notice of disallowed question
Carey complained that notice of his question’s disallowance arrived too late for him to submit a substitute and accused the Chair’s staff of delaying it. The Ceann Comhairle said he should follow the usual substitute-question procedure and warned him against attacking staff who could not respond.
I tabled a question to the Minister which was disallowed. I am not protesting about the reason for the disallowance. I know I am not allowed to raise this matter in the House but the problem I have is that I did not get the letter informing me of the disallowance until this morning. I tabled the question on Thursday. If I had known that it was disallowed I would have submitted another question. Someone in the Ceann Comhairle's staff is sitting on questions.
Comment on this
The Deputy should have submitted a substitute question. That is the normal procedure in case a question is disallowed. The Deputy will maybe bear that in mind in future.
Comment on this
The Deputy should not use his position in the House to attack people who cannot answer.
Comment on this
The Chair is responsible for the running of the House and the Deputy should not make comments about people who cannot defend themselves.
Comment on this
It is disorderly to raise the matter but it is even more disorderly to attack staff who are not in a position to answer.