The present invention solves the problems associated with the prior art by decoupling the issuing of instructions from their dispatch into their respective pipeline. This permits the determination of whether a particular instruction can safely be issued from an instruction queue to the next stage of the pipeline by providing such information at a point early in the machine cycle. In a multistage pipeline, a first stage is bypassed to provide instructions to a second stage regardless of the ability of the first stage to store the instruction from the instruction issuing unit.