We will come back to the Deputy in a moment.

We are out of time and we cannot start having a cross-Chamber conversation about these matters.

Can I say to the Members that they should ask questions? It is supposed to be questions and not statements. If a Member's question or statement goes on so long then he or she cannot blame the Taoiseach if he does not have time to answer.

Before I proceed to our next speaker, who will be Deputy Thomas Gould, I ask Members to join me in extending a warm céad míle fáilte to my Malaysian counterpart, the Honourable Tan Sri Dato' Dr. Johari bin Abdul, speaker of the house of representatives. He is joined by three parliamentary colleagues and by our good friend, H.E. Mr. Abdul Rashid, the Malaysian ambassador to Ireland. I hope they enjoy their visit here. Maybe I can tell Members a secret. In the course of a lunch with the honourable speaker, he told me…

Our guests are welcome.

I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

As no other Sinn Féin Deputies are offering, we will move to Deputy Mattie McGrath who has two and a half minutes. We will adjourn at that stage and he may speak again when the debate resumes.

We must adjourn the debate. The Deputy's group will have 17 minutes remaining when it resumes. The clock is wrong.

We will now go to Deputy Mitchell who is sharing time with her colleagues Deputies Farrell, Crowe, Mythen and Ellis.

Has Question No. 66 been taken?

I do not mind what it is about. On you go.

Please, let the Minister respond.

Would you stop heckling please?

Time is up

Deputy, hold on. As a matter of long-standing principle, we have a separation of powers. The separation of powers means that in this House, we do not criticise or comment on affairs before the courts. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, is independent. Its actions and decisions may not be commented on in this House. That is in accordance with the long-established tradition, and the Deputy is long enough here to understand that.

I am sorry. You cannot comment. I will not tolerate this from any Member on any side of the House. Before I am told what group the Deputy belongs to, no one in this Chamber is going to comment on any actions, statements or decisions of the courts or the DPP. Let that be clear. Our hearts go out to the Nkencho family. The sympathies of every Member of this House are with them and the memory of their son, who should not have lost his life. However, we are not going to talk here about the decisions of the DPP. Let me …

No. Sorry, Deputy. You may take another tack, but you are not going to engage in a debate here about a decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions. You are out of order in attempting to do so. I will have to take action if you persist.

No. Please, Deputy. We will not have more of this. Please desist. Respect the honourable traditions of the House that have been respected for years by Members on all sides. Do not try to take us down this road.

You can state any facts you like-----

-----but you will not come in here and abuse the long-established principle of the separation of powers. You will not come in here and make statements about decisions of courts or those of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It is as simple as that. You cannot have a separate-----