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 raise an urgent matter of local and national importance, namely, the need for the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and his Department to pay the correct single farm payments and area based payments to thousands of farmers, given that the full applications were submitted last April. It is important for the Minister to explain why these forms were not examined at a much earlier stage and does he realise that many farmers are depending on these payments to meet urgent bills and bank loan repayments, and that the delay in payments is causing serious problems to their banking reputations? I appreciate that a large number of farmers have received some payments, but in many cases this is only a portion of what they are entitled to.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss a matter of national importance and concern, namely, the urgent need to have and develop a quality bus service across the northside of Dublin. I call on the Minister for Transport and Dublin Bus to make bus services a priority issue in Dublin North-Central and call for the retention of the Nos. 20B and 27B in order to support the people of Artane, Beaumont, Coolock, Kilmore and Cromcastle, and for these bus services to be made an urgent priority in all future transport plans for Dublin North-Central. I urge the Minister to intervene to assist the people at Dublin North-Central.
Ba mhaith liom an Dáil a chur ar athló chun déileáil leis an ábhar rí-thabhachtach seo, namely, the inexplicable failure of the Department of Education and Skills to spend €331 million, or half this year's capital budget for school building, at a time when demand for school places and parental choice for both secular and multi-denominational education and gaelscoileanna is rising, as evidenced by the presence of parents and children from Portobello Educate Together start-up group outside the gates of Leinster House yesterday, and with the INTO estimating that 400 schools will be required over the next ten years to cater for 100,000 additional pupils; and the urgent need for the Government to implement Sinn Féin's proposal for the construction and delivery of 125 new schools, which by creating jobs at both the construction phase and in the delivery of education, would immediately act as a stimulus for the domestic economy and contribute to the achievement of a smart economy in the long term.
Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 32.