PART XXVI - PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE ASSEMBLY AND ITS COMMITTEES

General provisions on access to the Assembly

234. (1) Except as may be expressly provided to the contrary, every person has access to the Assembly and its committees.

(2) The Assembly or a committee may not exclude any person, or any media, from a sitting of the Assembly or of a committee unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Speaker has determined that there are justifiable reasons for the exclusion.

(3) The Speaker may, from time to time, issue rules governing public access to the Assembly and its committees.

Restriction of access to the Chamber

235. (1) No person other than a Member shall be admitted into any part of the Chamber appropriated to the exclusive use of Members of the Assembly while the Assembly or the Committee of the whole Assembly is sitting.

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to the Clerk or other officers of the Assembly when discharging their duties in the service of the Assembly.

Exclusion from the Assembly or committees

236. (1) A Member may, at any time, rise to claim that the public or any particular person be, for reasons stated, excluded from the Assembly or from a committee, and if the Speaker is of the opinion that there are justifiable reasons for the exclusion, he or she may order that the public or such person withdraw from the Assembly or the committee.

(2) Whenever the Speaker has determined that any person be excluded from a sitting of the Assembly or of a committee, the Speaker shall inform the Assembly or Committee the reasons for the exclusion.

(3) A determination by the Speaker under paragraph (2) shall not be the subject of comment or debate.

(4) The Clerk shall ensure that an order for the withdrawal of the public or a person is complied with.

Press representatives infringing Standing Orders or the Speaker’s Rules

237. Any media institution whose representative infringes these Standing Orders or any rules made by the Speaker for the regulation of the admittance of the public to the Assembly or to committees or persistently misreports the proceedings of the Assembly, or neglects or refuses on request from the Speaker to correct any wrong report in respect of the proceedings of the Assembly to the satisfaction of the Speaker, may be excluded from representation in the Press gallery for such period as the Speaker shall direct.