Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil Dail Éireann — 2021-03-31 ============================================================ Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central On a point of clarification, after Deputies Mairéad Farrell and O'Reilly made their contributions on Second Stage of the Public Service Pay Bill 2020, there was a slot for the Labour Party but no Deputy from that party was in the Chamber. I understood that a Government speaker was then to have the floor, after which it would revert back to Deputy Clarke. I am here in the Chamber instead of Deputy Clarke----- Seán Ó Fearghaíl (CC), Kildare South That is not a point of order. I do not need to be advised on how the House operates. The first part of any parliamentary process is that Members be present in order to conduct the business. When the two very effective contributors for Sinn Féin had spoken, there was nobody else in the Chamber offering and, therefore, the Minister was called on to respond. That is the way the system works. I am afraid we cannot go running around after people who have not bothered to turn up on time. Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central What the Ceann Comhairle is saying is not right. He asked the Minister to respond----- Seán Ó Fearghaíl (CC), Kildare South Excuse me, Deputy. Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central If I may finish----- Seán Ó Fearghaíl (CC), Kildare South The Deputy is not a wet week in the place. What I am saying is absolutely correct. Seán Ó Fearghaíl (CC), Kildare South The Deputy is not making sense, he is not speaking from his designated seat and he is out of order. Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central What I am saying is right. Seán Ó Fearghaíl (CC), Kildare South You are not. You could not be more incorrect. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-03-31/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:10+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-03-31