Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1965 > Committee on Procedure and Privileges > Report - Amendment to Standing Order relating to Notice of Questions

REPORT

1. The Committee on Procedure and Privileges has had under consideration the period of notice required for Questions under Standing Order 30 of the Standing Orders relative to Public Business.

2. The existing provision in the Standing Order is as follows:

“Questions must be in writing, and must reach the Clerk not later than 4 o’clock p.m. on the third day preceding that on which they are to be asked, not reckoning a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday”.

As Saturday has ceased to be a working day in Government Departments generally owing to the application of the five-day week, the time available for the preparation of replies in the Departments has been reduced. Representations have been made to the Committee that this has given rise to difficulties in preparing replies in time.

3. The Committee considers that the period of notice should be increased by providing that the time by which Questions must reach the Clerk be 11 a.m., instead of 4 p.m., on the day at present prescribed. It accordingly, recommends to the Dáil that the Standing Order be amended by the deletion of “4 o’clock p.m.” and the substitution there for of “11 o’clock a.m.”

(Signed) PÁDRAIG Ó hÓGÁIN,

1st July, 1965.