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Dáil
‹ Priority Questions

Question time rules

Summary

The Acting Chairman sets out and enforces strict speaking limits for Priority Questions to ensure all Deputies get a fair hearing.

Eugene Murphy Acting Chairman Fianna Fáil

Before we go into the questions, I point out that six and a half minutes are allocated to each question, with 30 seconds to put the question, two minutes for the Minister's reply, a minute for the Deputy to put a supplementary, a minute for the Minister to reply, a final response from the Deputy, and a final response from the Minister. I am sticking to this rigidly, because, day after day, we find that four, five or six people sit here waiting for their questions to be answered and, because we break the time regulations, they lose out and that is not fair. When the Minister's two minutes are done, I will say that it is on the record. It is the same for the Deputy when the minute is up. I will say that we have to move on.

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