Speaker of the House of Assembly Ernest DeCouto is to review House of Assembly transcripts to decide whether or not to discipline Opposition MPs.

He said MPs may have been in contempt of the House after walking out in protest during a vote on Friday night.

The chaos came moments before Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness was said to have lied to the House by a PLP MP, who returned to the door of the chamber.

The comments were made by Shadow Transport Minister Dennis Lister, and not Opposition whip Walter Lister as had been reported in The Royal Gazette .

After his initial comments, the Shadow Minister is reported to have told radio journalists he wanted to "tone down'' his words to make them "more Parliamentary''.

Walter Lister would not comment when contacted by The Royal Gazette on Sunday.

In a statement yesterday, he demanded a public apology from The Royal Gazette .

Dennis Lister was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Editor David L. White said the newspaper apologised for misidentifying Mr.

Walter Lister. "It was a simple case of mistaken identification. If Mr.

Walter Lister had made it clear when we called on Sunday that he was not involved the whole thing could have been cleared up then.'' However, he added that the newspaper stood by the accuracy of the statements made by Mr. Dennis Lister.

Mr. Edness said he had spoken to Walter Lister to sort out any confusion as the pair had been friends for a long time.

He added: "My advice to Dennis Lister is if he did say that, he should apologise and we should drop the entire matter.'' Mr. DeCouto, referring to the Opposition walk-out, said: "My concern is that some members of Parliament need to brush up on the rules.

"Perhaps the whips should organise their own clinics. There are rule books and members need to know what procedures are.

"For the Opposition to withdraw from the House during the vote is contrary to the rules and may bring the members leaving the House into contempt.

"It also brings the House into disrepute. When a vote is taking place, you don't leave your seat.

"This left the constituents of those members who had withdrawn without representation in the House.'' Mr. DeCouto said he was "considering his options'' on whether or not to reprimand individual MPs.

It is understood he may seek apologies from certain members who openly shouted criticisms as they left the chamber.

The Speaker added that he would review House of Assembly transcripts.

He said: "I'm concerned about the level of decorum in the House and I want members to understand their responsibility as representatives of the people.'' The mass exodus from the Opposition benches left one half of the House empty for the final 15 minutes of the Parliamentary session.

The House of Assembly has now retired for Christmas and will not re-sit until February 6.

Opposition members started the uproar when Shadow Health Minister Renee Webb was told one of her motions would not be debated on the night.

The Hamilton East MP had tabled a motion to complain to the UK Government about Bermudians who had sworn allegiance to a foreign power being barred from sitting in Parliament or the Senate.

Top Government MPs said they only found out at 5.50 on Friday that Ms Webb wanted to discuss the motion.

They added that they were unable to discuss the motion on the night because they had "not been given enough notice''.

Ms Webb said she had not decided whether or not to re-table the motion and she defended the Opposition for walking out.