Planning Issues
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

No, with respect to the Acting Chair, I will take it up now.
I thank the Acting Chair for her time as she has been sitting here waiting for a Minister to show up to take my Commencement matter. It was Commencement matter No. 4 in which I was to raise Portumna Forest Park. While I understand the Minister is in the Chamber and quite rightly so, I am disappointed that there was not cover from the Front Bench to facilitate. I always thought the procedure was that when a Minister takes that chair, they never leave it until there is a Minister outside. That is the proper protocol and unfortunately that was not adhered to this morning and unfortunately we did not have Front Bench cover. That is something that needs to be addressed at the start of this season because it is quite embarrassing to be sitting here and to be stood up by our Lower House.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23