Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 31. I will 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 debate the following urgent matter: the need to address the situation whereby up to €20 million has been spent over the past three years jointly by the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor defending cases where parents have taken legal action in an effort to get appropriate education for their children who have special educational needs. The €20 million was mainly spent on legal fees rather than settlements, which indicates those taking cases seek educational rather than monetary settlements. The courts, in effect, decide policy and require delivery of services. There is an obvious need to put the services in place to deal with the queues of children waiting for assessments for school places or speech and language or occupational therapy, rather than spending taxpayers' money defending what is often the indefensible.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the proposal of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to usher in a new generation of nuclear power in Britain with a vengeance; the attending consequences and increased risks for Ireland of an upgraded and intensified nuclear waste reprocessing plant a short number of miles away at Sellafield in Cumbria, the closure of which is our Government's stated aim; the continuing discharge of nuclear waste into an already excessively contaminated Irish Sea and the increased vulnerability of the upgraded British nuclear plants to terrorist attacks. I call on the Government to impress on the British the urgency for increasing renewable energy sources to meet its future energy needs without the necessity for additional nuclear power stations.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the need for the Government to resource adequately and increase the number of workers delivering youth programmes in Clonmel; the need to grant young people's facilities and services fund status to the town; the need to approve funding for a springboard project for the town and the need to provide adequate funding for projects under the drugs task force funding. The lack of these workers, resources and projects have precluded the development of important initiatives which would enhance social inclusion. Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the continuing hunger strike and protest by 41 Afghans in Dublin, the apparent failure of the Government to take into account that there is a war raging in Afghanistan, which the Minister disgracefully described as mere disturbances, and which last night alone claimed the lives of at least 60 civilians, policemen, rebels and soldiers in gun and bomb attacks in several areas, and the increasingly urgent need for the Minister to introduce a formal system of complementary protections for those persons who do not fit the narrow convention criteria for refugee status.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the need, following revelations about donations to politicians yesterday, to improve public confidence in the planning process by amending the planning laws to ensure that developers found in breach of planning conditions in one location in a local authority area are not allowed to develop in another part of that county.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: today's publication of a book, Speaking Truth to Power, which details the catalogue of events accompanying the dismissal from the Irish Army of Donal de Róiste in 1969, and that the Minister for Defence address this House stating what subsequent measures he intends to put in place to reverse this miscarriage of justice.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the critical need to ensure that essential social infrastructure, including adequate child care facilities, primary, secondary and third level educational institutions, primary health care and general hospital services, and public transport will be put in place in the huge north fringe development being built in the Dublin North-East constituency, an area of approximately 30,000 additional housing units which does not have a strategic development zone plan and where no school provision has yet taken place.
The Deputy must confine himself to the matter on which he notified the Ceann Comhairle's office.
The Health Service Executive's capital programme was published this morning and there is not a single grant for the Dublin North-East constituency, although it is represented in this House by two Fianna Fáil Deputies. It is a disgraceful state of affairs.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the proposed closure of Tarbert power station in County Kerry with the loss of 129 jobs.
Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 31.