Dáil prayer to continue while dress code ruling deferred

A prayer should continue to be said at the beginning of business in the Dáil and Seanad, the Oireachtas Committee on Procedures and Privileges has decided.

The committee agreed that the prayer should continue to be said in English and Irish and that a 30-second reflection should be allowed for after the prayer.

The prayer goes: “Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our actions by Thy holy inspirations and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance; that every word and work of ours may always begin from Thee, and by Thee be happily ended; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The prayer is recited by the Ceann Comhairle in the Dáil and clerk of the Seanad and has been regularly criticised, with some members suggesting a minute’s silence should be held in its place.

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The prayer was introduced to the Dáil's schedule in 1932. It became a source of controversy after the publication of the Cloyne report, which investigated clerical child abuse.

The committee also considered proposals on the parliamentary dress code and the banning of members wearing emblems and slogans in the chamber. A decision on the dress code was deferred until next week but it was agreed that a ban on emblems should be examined.

This follows the decision by the Anti-Austerity Alliance (now called Solidarity) and People Before Profit TDs to wear black “Repeal” sweaters in the Dáil, urging the Government to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which places the life of the unborn on an equal footing to the life of a mother.

The Oireachtas code of parliamentary standards bans the wearing of emblems of a party-political nature.

However, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl is understood to want a stricter enforcement of the rules.

There was also a discussion on whether Independent TD Clare Daly abused Dáil privilege when she criticised a member of the judiciary.