Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1962 > Committee on Procedure and Privileges > Report - Standing Orders (i) Amendments relating to suspension of Members from the service of the Dáil, and (ii) New Standing Order relating to Order of Motion in Private Members' Business

REPORT

1. The Committee on Procedure and Privileges has had under consideration two matters of procedure, one the periods of suspension under Standing Order 51 and the other the order in which motions should be taken in Private Members’ Business.

Periods of Suspension under Standing Order 51.

2. The existing provision in Standing Order 51 in relation to the periods of suspension is—

“If any member be suspended under this Standing Order, his suspension on the first occasion shall continue for one week, on the second occasion for a fortnight, and on the third or any subsequent occasion for one month”.

The Committee feels that this penalty is uneven in its incidence. If the suspension runs in a period when the House is sitting the Member’s suspension from the service of the Dáil extends over an appropriate number of sittings. If, however, the suspension occurs shortly before a recess the number of sitting days involved may be smaller than normal and in the extreme case where a Member is suspended for a month on the last sitting day the period of suspension may not include any other sitting day. The Committee is satisfied that while the penalty in the former case is effective, in the latter case it is so slight that it carries little deterrent effect on disorderly conduct. The Committee as far back as February, 1945, in a Report to the Dáil (T. 112) drew the attention of the House to this defect in the Standing Order and it recommended that the provision setting out the periods should be deleted and the following substituted—

“If any member be suspended under this Standing Order his suspension shall continue until the fourth day on which the Dáil shall sit after the day on which he was suspended. If, however, a member be suspended on more than one occasion in any period of twelve months, his suspension on the second such occasion shall continue until the eighth such day, and on the third or any subsequent such occasion until the twelfth such day.”

No action was taken by the House on this Report.

3. It will be noted that the amendment proposed in 1945 while remedying the defect mentioned provided that the period of suspension for second and subsequent offences should be greater than for the first only where the suspensions are within a period of twelve months. This would have altered the existing practice that if the second or subsequent suspension occurs any time during the lifetime of a Dáil an increased period of suspension is imposed. The Committee considers that there should be no reduction in any way in the sanctions against disorderly conduct and considers that this existing practice should be continued.

4. The Committee accordingly recommends to the Dáil the deletion from Standing Order 51 of the words—

“If any member be suspended under this Standing Order, his suspension on the first occasion shall continue for one week, on the second occasion for a fortnight, and on the third or any subsequent occasion for one month”

and the substitution therefor of the words—

“If any member hereafter be suspended under this Standing Order, his suspension on the first occasion shall continue until the fourth day, on the second occasion until the eighth day, and on the third or any subsequent occasion until the twelfth day, on which the Dáil shall sit after the day on which he was suspended”.

Order of Motions in Private Members’ Business.

5. The Committee considered the order in which Private Members’ motions are taken. The present procedure is that motions are taken in the order in which notice is given of them. As there is no limit on the number of motions Members may set down some Members could, if they wished, monopolise for a considerable period the time devoted to motions in Private Members’ time. The Committee feels that the following proposed additional Standing Order represents an improvement on the present procedure by removing the possibility of abuse—

“82A (1) For the purpose of this Standing Order a group shall mean

(a)any Party which had not less than seven members elected to the Dáil at the previous General Election, or

(b)all members of the Dáil who are not members of any such Party.

(2) Each group shall have the right in rotation to nominate a private member of the group to move a motion standing in his name. The order in which the right may be exercised by the various groups shall be determined on the basis of the numbers of members in the groups, a larger group having precedence over a smaller one. In the case of an equality of numbers precedence shall be determined by lot.

(3) At least ten days prior to the date on which the motion is moved the member nominated shall indicate to the Ceann Comhairle the motion which he proposes to move and the Ceann Comhairle will give this motion appropriate precedence in the Private Members’ Business on the Order Paper.”

The proposed new Standing Order is recommended to the House for adoption.

(Signed) PÁDRAIG Ó hÓGÁIN,

Chairman.

12th April, 1962.