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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Oct 2003

Vol. 571 No. 4

Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 31.

Before coming to the Order of Business I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 31. I will call the Deputies in the order in which they submitted notices to my office.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of public concern, namely, the recent announcement by the Taoiseach that restrictions relating to planning permission for once-off houses in rural areas will be relaxed; to ascertain exactly what restrictions will be relaxed; if such restrictions are relaxed, if it will mean that the thousands of young people who are refused, or are about to be refused, planning permission will now get it; and what element of the current national spatial strategy, agreed and announced with great fanfare by the Government, will be changed to facilitate the new guidelines. The currently prevailing level of annoyance and bitterness on this issue in rural Ireland will pale into insignificance compared with the level of outright anger that will ensue if young people are conned and cruelly led astray should they be denied planning permission again.

I seek the adjournment of the House under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of urgent national importance, namely, the derailment of a freight train on the Limerick-Waterford rail line and the implications this will have for the future of this critical rail infrastructure and for rail freight.

I seek the adjournment of Dáil Éireann under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of critical national importance, namely, the derailment of a cement train in Cahir, County Tipperary, this morning and the implications this will have on rail freight serving the south-east.

I seek the adjournment of Dáil Éireann under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of urgent national importance, namely, the derailment of a cement train at Cahir, County Tipperary, and the implications which it has for the future of the Limerick-Waterford rail line.

I seek leave to move a motion of adjournment under Standing Order 31 on the following important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, the short-sighted and ill-thought out Government policy of cutting 5,000 community employment, CE, scheme places. These cuts have had disastrous effects on many community and voluntary organisations which provide essential services to the most vulnerable in society; the failure of the Government to provide alternative funding for services that were provided through CE schemes, such as child care, support for the elderly and disabled and youth services; the devastating effect of this right wing driven policy on long-term unemployed people, lone parents, the disabled and those seeking to make a transition from welfare to work; and the importance of re-instating all CE places in view of the changing economic situation and growing unemployment levels.

I seek to adjourn the business of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of urgent public importance, that in light of continuing staff and student unrest at the unacceptability of current working conditions, allied with the failure exposed in the annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the skyrocketing costs of its proposed redevelopment, the Minister for Education and Science fulfils the Government's promise to bring into being a newly developed Cork School of Music, vital infrastructure necessary for the 2005 European Year of Culture hosted by Cork, ensuring that this facility is achieved at an appropriate cost and through an appropriate funding mechanism.

I seek the adjournment of Dáil Éireann under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following matter of urgent national importance, that in view of the crisis in the health service, the Minister for Health and Children should arrange for the immediate opening of the new €96 million wing at James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown, the newly built nursing unit in Birr District Hospital and the new development at the Midlands Regional Hospital, Mullingar.

I proposed to raise a matter under Standing Order 31 about the Cork School of Music which I wish to withdraw in view of the opportunity I have to raise it on the Adjournment this evening.

I seek the adjournment of the House under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following issue of vital national importance, namely, the confusion arising from statements to the House by the Taoiseach regarding the indemnity agreement in respect of some religious orders, to the effect that the then Minister for Education and Science entered into what he regarded as a good deal which had the imprimatur of the then Attorney General, noting the Taoiseach's praise of the Attorney General for his involvement in concluding the deal—

The Deputy is a bit late.

—the confirmation in the House by the former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods, again affirming the influence and supervision by the then Attorney General, now Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and his subsequent denial outside the House of his involvement to the extent indicated, even going so far as to indicate that he was excluded from a major part of the negotiations which took place with the Department of Education and Science and the subsequent references, again outside the House, by the Tánaiste to the effect that the then Attorney General gave his seal of approval to the deal which may ultimately result in up to €1 billion liability for the State.

Who wrote that for Deputy Durkan?

There is productivity.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to allow us investigate the circumstances of the rail accident at the Cahir viaduct this morning; to allow the Government to outline its future policies regarding the development of the line and to explain why it has deliberately under-invested in the said line over recent decades leading to its present dilapidated condition.

I have a slight variation on the derailment issue. I request the suspension of the House under Standing Order 31 to consider the following matter of urgent national importance, given that Dublin's DART service is set to grind to a halt at weekends over the next 18 months, the Dublin Transportation Office should be requested to facilitate the provision of a quality bus corridor on roads adjacent to the DART line as a matter of extreme urgency.

Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 31.

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