These Cork spats in the House are very unseemly. My colleague Senator Warfield spoke about Ursula von der Leyen and what she had to say and what she did not have to say. We have a situation where our President, Michael D. Higgins, goes to-----

Sorry , Senator. I am going to have a spat with you now. You know full well-----

Stick with me here now.

Okay, go on.

He goes to Rome-----

The Office of Uachtarán-----

I have to put on my headphones now because I have to hear you.

Who is chairing who here?

Michael D. Higgins goes to Rome and he does exactly what Ursula von der Leyen did.

Correct, absolutely.

He makes a statement without, I understand, having run it past the Government or the Council of State.

Sorry, Senator. I appreciate your desire to speak on matters appropriate to the Order of Business, but-----

I hope the clock has stopped.

-----as you know quite well, the Office of President is not answerable to the Houses of the Oireachtas. You have done this before.

No, there is a question here.

I ask you to-----

You are pre-empting him, Chair.

Excuse me. There is a question here. We have a Constitution in this country.

The bottom line, Senator, with all respect, and I appreciate your sincerity, is that the Office of the President is not answerable to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

It should be.

That is a whole different matter, Senator Conway. That is not for us to discuss today.

I fully accept that the President is not answerable to this House. However------

The exercise and performance of his duties and the powers and function of his office-----

Shall I just read a paragraph here, which is nothing to offend anybody? Article 13.11 of the Constitution states:

No power or function conferred on the President by law shall be exercisable or performable by him save only on the advice of the Government.

I want to know if the President had the advice of the Government before he went and did what he accused Ursula von der Leyen of doing.

Go raibh maith agat.

Hear, hear.

At the end of the day, we have a Constitution. We either live by it or we do not. You cannot select from it piecemeal. It is not an à la carte menu.

Thank you; your time is up.

You took half my time.

Chair, it was your time really.

Members should know and will understand that that is the precedent and tradition of the House.

My final comment is that we have one spokesperson on foreign affairs in this country, and that is the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Nobody else can state Irish policy anywhere.

Thank you. I refer all Members of the House, not just Senator Craughwell, to Article 13.8.1° of the Constitution.

I have a copy here in my pocket.

You might familiarise yourself with it.

All of it.