Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 32. I will call the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their notices to my office.
Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss the following matter of national importance, requiring urgent consideration, namely, the now signalled loss of 900 jobs at Quinn Insurance, which has come as a severe blow to the threatened workers, their families, communities and the wider inter-dependent community in each affected area in Counties Cavan, Dublin, Fermanagh, Meath and further afield, and the need for the full truth to be laid out in public as to why the Financial Regulator decided to ban the company trading in the Six Counties and in Britain hours before he sought the appointment of provisional administrators. Why has it taken so many weeks to restore even partial access to these markets and what efforts has the Government employed to ensure that all decisions of the Financial Regulator have been justified, given the serious consequences for this company's reputation and viability in all markets, and the serious loss of jobs now consequential on his actions?
I am seeking the adjournment of Dáil Éireann under Standing Order 32 to discuss a matter of urgent importance, namely, the need for the Minister for Health and Children to postpone HSE plans to close Loughloe House long-stay facility in Athlone within the next two months, and to publish any and all available reports associated with the decision, in light of the fact that inadequate consideration has been given to the implications which this closure will have on patients and staff, and the lack of a full evaluation of the HIQA report on the facility.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise the following issue of national importance, namely, the recent announcement that the home help hours across the country will be reduced to 7.5 hours per week. A home help will be able to spend no more than ten minutes getting an old person out of bed and dressed in the morning, and 15 minutes assisting him or her in showering. This is totally unrealistic and it will mean that many elderly people will not be properly catered for. These measures are mean and unjustified for the many elderly who need a lifeline into the community. They are the most needy and vulnerable group in our society and what the Minister is proposing is inhuman. In a time of recession, this Government, between the Green Party and Fianna Fáil, can justify another ministerial salary for a directly elected mayor, while many people are struggling to live their daily lives.
I seek to adjourn the House under Standing Order 32 in order to discuss the impact the budgetary cuts are having on the Brothers of Charity in County Limerick and their ability to provide much-needed facilities for people with special needs; and the negative impact the cuts will have on both the people receiving care from the Brothers of Charity and on their families and the need to reverse all such cuts in provisions for this area.
I hereby give notice pursuant to Standing Order 32 to raise the following matter of urgent importance, namely, the need to ascertain the detailed plans of the Minister for Health and Children and the Health Service Executive to curtail service delivery programmes in the HSE's midlands area, incorporating Counties Westmeath, Longford, Offaly and Laois, with particular reference to proposed cutbacks and cost-saving measures under the euphemistic guise of "reconfiguration", affecting Portlaoise Regional Hospital, to include the future of the accident and emergency service, the maternity unit, general surgery and the urology service and how such changes will impact on the people of the midlands.
Having considered the matters raised, I do not consider them to be in order under Standing Order 32.
(Interruptions).
That is not fair.