We now come to requests to move the Adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31. There is a number of topics and I will call on the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their notices to my office. In regard to the first topic, I have received notice from Deputies Connolly and Twomey.
Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 31.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the threat to accident and emergency services at 22 general hospitals throughout Ireland occasioned by the introduction of new accreditation guidelines for the training of junior doctors by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the threatened closure of accident and emergency departments in the smaller hospitals in this country which would have a devastating effect on local communities which are already bearing the brunt of major health cuts.
The matter is not in order under Standing Order 31. In regard to the second topic, I have received notice from Deputies Crawford, Ó Caoláin and Neville.
I wish to seek the adjournment of Dáil Éireann under Standing Order 31 in respect of the urgent national issue where Monaghan General Hospital was taken off call on 2 July 2002 and has not yet been returned to full status. There is also the urgent need for Dáil Éireann to discuss the independent report on the Livingstone tragedy to make sure a similar situation will never happen in Monaghan General Hospital or in any of the other hospitals under threat.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the escalating crisis in the health services, including the inability of accident and emergency departments to cope with the number of patients presenting, bed blocking by consultants resulting in worsening waiting lists and adding to the accident and emergency situation as highlighted by yesterday's Capita report, the threatened closure of accident and emergency units in a number of hospitals because of changes in training rules by the College of Surgeons and the plight of Monaghan General Hospital which remains officially off call and which has seen no improvement, and none promised, even in the wake of the tragic death of Bronagh Livingstone.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following issue of national importance – the highly critical independent report on the death of baby Bronagh Livingstone on 11 December at Cavan hospital and the conflicting report on the incident carried out by the North-Eastern Health Board.
The matter is not in order under Standing Order 31. In regard to the third topic, I have received notice from Deputy Connaughton.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of public importance, namely, the closure of the Square D factory in Ballinasloe, County Galway, resulting in almost 400 jobs being lost in a town which has now lost almost all its industrial base, where the IDA has been spectacularly unsuccessful in attracting industry to the town despite the creation of record breaking job opportunities over the past five years, where the Government spectacularly chose to omit Ballinasloe from its spatial strategy plan and to ask the Government if it will now publicly declare what plans, if any, it has to restore the 1,000 jobs lost to Ballinasloe over the past five years and if it will decentralise a substantial Department to the town under its new decentralisation programme.
The matter is not in order under Standing Order 31. In regard to the fourth topic, I have received notice from Deputy Ó Snodaigh and Deputy Gay Mitchell.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the recent revelations on the use of Shannon Airport to transport troops and munitions on their way to prepare for war on Iraq, where the Government has been complicit in war preparations in the absence of the United Nations Security Council resolution, that such war preparations have taken place in violation of the relevant legislation, that the Government has, therefore, breached the obligations of neutral states, as defined in the Hague Convention, and that it has done so without the assent of the Dáil in violation of Article 28.3.1 of the Constitution.
I wish to seek the adjournment of Dáil Éireann under Standing Order 31 to consider the following matter of urgent public business – the need for Deputies to be given an immediate opportunity to put questions to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the situation in relation to Iraq.
The matter is not in order under Standing Order 31. I now come to the final matter. I have received notice from Deputy Cuffe and I now call on him to raise the matter.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil on a specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, the terms of agreement between the church and the Government which put a ceiling of €100 million on the amount the church would have to pay in compensation to minors sexually assaulted while resident in its care. The Government failed to research the compensation levels which could be paid by the church and, at this stage, it, rather than the taxpayer must clear this up. We propose that these terms be re-examined and the amount payable by the church be open-ended in keeping with the unknown number of cases and the unknown levels of compensation which may be payable to victims.
The matter is not in order in accordance with Standing Order 31.