Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 32. I will call on the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their notices to the Ceann Comhairle's office, starting with Deputy Liz McManus.
Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32.
I seek the Adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the planned closure of Independent Network News. As an independent producer of national news and as a vital piece of our broadcasting infrastructure, INN provides an invaluable service to local radio stations across the country. In the absence of INN, there is now a real risk that the quality and quantity of national news in local radio stations will suffer greatly.
I wish to seek the Adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of extreme importance, namely, the announcement by Aer Lingus that three quarters of its cabin crew at Shannon Airport are to be made redundant. The airline has already failed to sign up to the new state-of-the-art US pre-clearance facility and there is now a serious threat over transatlantic services from Shannon as a result of these proposals. The New York service will be reduced to three flights weekly. Any diminution of Aer Lingus transatlantic services from Shannon will have serious implications for business and tourism sectors in the region, which are already under pressure during these difficult times. The Minister for Transport must intervene and use the Government's 25% shareholding in the airline to ensure daily US connectivity to the mid-west region.
I seek the Adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the issues raised in today's edition of the Irish Examiner, which reports on the worrying level of suicide in Ireland. I am seeking a debate in the House so that the Minister for Health and Children can say why little progress has been made in implementing the 33 recommendations made by the Committee on Health and Children in 2006, what tangible deadlines have been set out for the implementation of those recommendations and to ask the Minister to respond to the description of this Government’s record on suicide prevention as a litany of failure.
Having considered the matters raised, I do not consider them to be in order under Standing Order 32.