Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 31. I call on the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their notices to my office.
Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 31.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following matter of urgent public and national concern, namely the current gross overcrowding at Cavan General Hospital, where 29 patients remain on trolleys in a four-bay accident and emergency unit, and to call on the Government to expedite the implementation of the plan announced by the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin on 29 September under which Monaghan General Hospital would be restored to seven-day, 24-hour on-call status, ten extra beds would be provided at the hospital plus an additional 19 beds at Cavan General Hospital to alleviate the serious situation there.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following matter of national importance, namely the inability of some Mayo patients to receive dialysis at the Mayo General Hospital dialysis unit due to the failure to recruit the four necessary nurses to allow an extra shift, forcing these patients to go to Galway, a journey for which they are not fit because of their illness, and which may prove fatal for them.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following important matter, namely the implications of four more years of Mr. George Bush as President of the United States and as a result, the danger of a further deepening of the crisis in Iraq and the implications of this worldwide. It is extraordinary that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform can see the crisis in Iraq as a cause of such mirth this morning.
It is only appropriate for the Deputy to read the notice he submitted to my office under Standing Order 31. He should not allow himself to be provoked.
When one sees braying hyenas across the floor of the House, one must respond. This is a very serious issue. In view of the new situation in the US there is a need for the Irish Government to change immediately its policy of supporting the imperialist occupation of Iraq by affording facilities to the United States Air Force at Shannon Airport.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31, following my question yesterday to the Taoiseach, to debate whether the Government is serious about preventing flood damage in future, and what plans it therefore needs to have to provide a capital investment programme for flood prevention — a question the Minister of Finance may wish to answer — and for the Government to undertake a countrywide assessment of where current and future flood plains may exist in order to ensure no more foolish and possibly corrupt decisions are taken to locate housing and other development on flood plains.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following issue of national importance, namely the need to review proposals to widen the M50 between the N7 and N4 in the light of the congestion it will cause for a period of up to six years, the existence of a toll bridge which exacerbates the problem and the economic wastefulness of adding an extra car lane in the face of permanently rising oil prices, future petrol shortages and the lack of any integrated public transport infrastructure for west Dublin.
Having given the matters full consideration, I do not consider them to be in order under Standing Order 31.