Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara yesterday informed the House that he would take action to cancel the press passes given to media institutions if reporters acted irresponsibly.

He said journalists covering Parliament proceedings must abstain from reporting informal remarks and sayings of MPs who had not been given the microphone facility. Otherwise, their press passes would be withheld.

He made this announcement soon after Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera raised a privilege issue in Parliament that the State media had secured compact disc copies of a speech made by Nation Building Minister Jagath Pushpakumara on Tuesday. The copies of the recorded speech of the Minister had been obtained by State TV channels without following proper proceedings agreed by party leaders and the Privilege Committee, he said.

The Chief Opposition Whip Minister Pushpakumara had misled the House and then that speech had been recorded and given to State TV channels, he said. This cannot be approved as it was against parliamentary traditions and ethics. This was a plot to bring disrepute to the UNP, he said.

UNP Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said that there were many cameras in the chambers in addition to the officially allowed cameras.

He said some MPs made wild allegations inside the Chamber capitalizing on Parliament Privileges, then obtained CD copies of those speeches and distributed them among TV channels. Through this they could mislead the entire nation, he said.