Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 32. I will call on 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 an issue of national importance, namely, the urgent need to support the right to aftercare for young people leaving State care and to include a legal entitlement to aftercare in the Child Care (Amendment) Bill as this is one of the key recommendations of the Ryan report on child abuse, recommendation No. 17, and calls on the Government to make this a priority issue.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss an issue of local and national importance, namely, the urgent need for a full debate on the medical card means test and regulation. Many extremely needy cases are being cut off under the current review and in one case it meant a person could no longer afford his medication from January last. He became seriously ill in March and the taxpayer has had to bear the expense of both his hospitalisation and ongoing social welfare. This system must be re-evaluated so the community welfare officers can have more leeway to deal with circumstances as they see them.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the threat by the Government to cut the old age pension, which will adversely impact on elderly people already struggling to make ends meet in the recession.
We will worry about the Deputy.
This is indicative of the extraordinary attitude of a government that has no regard for the frail and old, which has been demonstrated in the effort to remove automatic entitlement to medical cards for the over 70s, cutting home help hours, closing care homes such as Loughloe House, Athlone, the threat to St. Mary's care centre, Mullingar, County Westmeath, and now potentially cutting the well earned pensions of our elderly citizens, which is leading to great anger.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
It is the last straw.
That surely merits adjournment.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the need for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Government to help urgently the 20,000 householders whose homes are beginning to collapse around them because of the presence of defect pyrite in the foundations of their home. The Government needs to urgently set aside a fund to help those home owners who are suffering hardship, badly affected by this scandal and are not getting any help from their builder or their builder's insurer.
Hear, hear.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the continued recruitment embargo in the HSE and the Department of Health and Children which is putting people's lives at risk throughout the country. In my own area the Plunkett home in Boyle has 100 elderly citizens who are still being denied day care services despite numerous Government commitments and political promises to reinstate the services three weeks ago.
Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 32.
That is typical.
Nothing is in order in this country.