I have a Private Notice Question. I wish to ask the Minister for Defence what arrangements he is making for the accommodation of the families at the Curragh.
Business of Dáil.
That does not qualify as a Private Notice Question. The Deputy cannot raise the matter here.
Will the Minister make a statement on it? This is a real emergency.
The Deputy cannot raise this matter here. The matter has been ruled out. The Deputy can submit the question in ordinary time.
There are two families in one billet in the Curragh and that is something that is really important to this State. Is the Minister prepared to do something about the situation of these unfortunate families?
The Deputy cannot raise this matter. The question does not qualify for private notice and the Deputy should obey the Chair.
Is the Minister now contemplating moving those people back into what is a fire hazard and has been a fire hazard previous to this? For the first time people saw on television where these people have to live and it was no credit to this country or to this House.
I am calling on the Deputy to resume his seat.
I will have my say because this is the most grievous emergency that has hit our Army in recent years.
(Interruptions.)
I am asking the Deputy to please obey the Chair. He is being disorderly.
Those people are now being asked to return to those unsafe houses from which they have been removed. I ask the Government if the children and wives have to risk their lives as well as the soldiers. The conditions in that area have always been a disgrace and the Chair refuses to allow the matter to be discussed in this House. It is one of the most disgraceful things that have happened.
(Interruptions.)
The Deputy has taken very considerable latitude. I ask the Deputy to please resume his seat. He can raise this at some other time.
The accommodation in the Army for soldiers and their wives and children is something to be deplored and I will insist on having my say in this House about this.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
If those people are being asked now to go back into conditions that are a fire hazard, unsafe, and declared unsafe, it is a disgrace. Those people were moved out of this area by the Army authorities as it was in an unsafe condition and now we are being asked to agree that there is no emergency. Those people are being asked to move back into the same houses that have been rendered dangerous by fire.
I would ask the Deputy to please obey the Chair.
I am asking this House to take note of this. The families have been moved into a billet, two families to one billet.
I would ask the Deputy to resume his seat.
The Minister is well aware of what a billet is. There is no way that two families, under any circumstances, can live or exist in these conditions.
I would ask the Deputy to please resume his seat.
The soldiers would usually take their orders and do what they are told but under these conditions their wives cannot be expected to do the same.
I will have to ask the Deputy to leave the House. This is not fair to the Chair.
(Interruptions.)
I am here to represent the people of Kildare and I am going to put this emergency business before the House, whatever else I do. I have no other alternative. I asked the Chair to allow a Private Notice Question. I have been refused. I have no alternative because this is an immediate emergency and I am going to——
There are other means.
I am going to exercise my right in this House to bring the conditions of those unfortunate people before the nation.
I will have no option but to name the Deputy if he does not resume his seat.
I am doing what I believe I must do to justify my conscience in relation to the conditions of those people.
I do not want to do it but I have no option. Would the Deputy please sit down?
(Interruptions.)
Will the Deputy please sit down?
I am asking that this be done in no uncertain terms: that we state what the people in this area have been suffering.
(Interruptions.)
With much reluctance I have to name the Deputy. Will the Taoiseach move the motion?