Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1963 > Committee on Procedure and Privileges > Report - Amendments of Standing Orders

REPORT

1. The 1950 edition of the Standing Orders of the Dáil is out of print. A revised edition of the Standing Orders incorporating amendments made to them by the House in 1959 and 1962, following the adoption of Reports T.168, T.185 and T.187 of the Committee, is in preparation.

2. Having regard to the forthcoming publication of a revised edition of the Standing Orders the Committee has considered it opportune to have the Orders examined generally to see if further amendments are desirable. As a result of the examination it recommends to the Dáil the adoption of the amendments which are set out in the Schedule to this Report. The bulk of the amendments recommended are drafting ones, or little more than such, and the remainder make no significant changes in procedure.

3. The Schedule is divided into four Parts according as the amendments set out therein have been classified by the Committee.

4. Part I contains purely drafting amendments which for grammatical or other reasons are regarded as necessary.

5. Part II contains a number of amendments designed to remove the expressions “Table” and “Session” from the Standing Orders in the various contexts in which these words occur. The expression “Table” is not a term of art in the procedure of the Dáil and the words “laid on the Table” should be replaced by the words “laid before the Dáil” which is the statutory expression. The word “Session” as used in the Standing Orders, e.g., in Standing Orders 29 (2), 47 and 102, does not admit of a uniform meaning and where it has been used the period or point of time understood in practice by it is substituted.

6. Part III contains amendments designed to relate in certain cases the wording of Standing Orders to what has been accepted as the practice of the Dáil over a lengthy period. In relation to them the Committee considers that no special comment is called for.

7. Part IV contains amendments of a substantive nature. The explanations of them are as follows:—

Standing Order 20

It is proposed to change the latest time by which notice must be given by a member to raise a matter on the adjournment from 8.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. The change recognises that a member of the Government should have adequate notice of any such matter and at a time when he has ready access to officers and papers in his Department.

Standing Order 55A

This should be included as a parallel provision to that in Standing Order 45 of the Seanad.

Standing Order 70A

It is proposed to give a member of the Government in charge of a Bill in a Select or Special Committee the same convenience as he would have if the Bill were in Committee of the whole Dáil.

Standing Order 72A

It is considered anomalous that the Standing Orders do not provide for the appointment of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges in the same way as for the Committee of Selection and the Committee of Public Accounts. At present the Committee is appointed by a special Order of the House on its reassembly after a General Election.

For many years it has been the practice of the Committee to consider matters relating to the conditions or premises in which members carry out their duties and which are not specifically referred to any other committee. It is considered desirable that the terms of reference of the Committee should include a reference to this practice.

Standing Order 78A

This is a provision which should be in the Standing Orders to meet the exceptional circumstances where it may be required.

Standing Order 92

An amendment to an amending Bill may be relevant to the general code of law with which the Bill is dealing but not relevant to the actual provisions dealt with in the Bill. Such an amendment is at present not in order and a separate Bill would have to be introduced in respect of it. The rule on occasions can operate vexatiously particularly where there is general agreement in the House as to the desirability of the amendment. The proposal of the Committee is similar to the procedure adopted in certain other Parliaments to meet the situation.

Standing Order 96

The wording of the Standing Order seems to imply that a Bill reported from a Select Committee, which has not been empowered to send for persons, papers and records, need not be referred to a Committee of the whole Dáil. Any such implication is removed by the amendment.

Standing Order 136

The provision for “unanimous consent” is impracticable. There is some doubt too about its validity since the Constitution does not envisage that any question in the House be so determined.

It is considered also that in cases of urgent necessity there should be a limitation of debate.

(Signed) PÁDRAIG Ó hÓGÁIN,

17th July, 1963.