Before coming to the Order of Business I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 31. I will call the Deputies in the order in which they submitted 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 discuss a matter of urgent public importance, namely, the jailing of a Member of Dáil Éireann, Deputy Joe Higgins, leader of the Independent group, and elected councillor Clare Daly for representing their constituents' opposition to the confrontational policy of Fingal County Council in refusing to collect the household refuse of thousands of taxpayers who are boycotting the bin tax and for campaigning to abolish this double taxation and have local authorities adequately funded from central taxation, the vast bulk of which is paid by PAYE workers.
I also wish to raise the urgent need to permit Deputy Joe Higgins to attend the Dáil to fulfil his obligations as a Member of Dáil Éireann under the Constitution.
The Deputy has gone beyond the text of the notice submitted to my office.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of grave national importance, namely, the landslides at Inver-Pollathomas, the most economically deprived area of the State which needs urgent State and EU disaster funding, and to debate the excessively harsh sentence passed on Deputy Joe Higgins which is preventing him from attending the Dáil.
The Deputy is out of order.
I seek leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the Dáil on the following specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, the continued failure of the British Government to call Assembly elections in the Six Counties, in spite of the view of the Dáil expressed by vote on 28 May 2003 that it deeply regretted the decision of the British Government to postpone the elections scheduled for 29 May 2003, a decision taken without the support of the Irish Government, and that those elections should take place quickly and regardless of any other considerations no later than this autumn.
I seek leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the Dáil on the following specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, the continuing campaign of civil disobedience being waged by Dubliners against the imposition of double taxation for the purpose of waste management collection, the ongoing incarceration of anti-bin tax protesters, including a Member of this House, and the Government's decision to introduce a waste charge scheme which ensures it is not the polluter who pays but ordinary PAYE workers.
I seek leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the Dáil on the following specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, the waste management crisis which has been exacerbated by the imposition of waste charges; the non-collection of waste by a number of local authorities which is causing a serious threat to public health and safety; the necessity for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to ensure that local authorities fulfil their responsibility to provide a refuse collection service to all householders; and the necessity to return the power to local authority members to make waste management plans.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to ask the Minister for Finance to come before the House to make a statement on the validity of tax clearance certificates as issued to election candidates and Members of the Oireachtas, whether the attention of the Government has been drawn to the lack of public confidence in these documents, and the measures he intends to put in place to remove anomalies and restore confidence in this process.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to consider the continued incarceration of a Member of the House, Deputy Joe Higgins, who has been imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison for the past two weeks on a point of principle and the double standards obtaining as regards former Members of the Oireachtas who were able to flout the law to an extraordinary degree with impunity and were facilitated to the extent of organising holiday arrangements abroad.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of national importance, namely, the imprisonment of Deputy Joe Higgins in Mountjoy jail, and to ask for his immediate release so that he, as an elected representative, can put his position on record in Dáil Éireann.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of urgent national importance, namely, the setting of double standards for certain Members of this House, whereby the Taoiseach has requested the resignation from the Dáil of Deputy Joe Higgins who has been jailed for one month for taking a principled stand on behalf of his constituents, while at the same time showing an unwillingness to apply the same standards to other Members of the House.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following specific and important matter of public interest, namely, that approximately 11,000 children with Irish citizenship face either separation from their parents or effective exile as a result of the Government's policy and the Government's decision to wash its hands of its obligations to uphold the basic legal rights of the children in question and their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children to which Ireland is a party, despite the fact that constitutionally the children in question have the same right to the full benefit of Irish citizenship by virtue of their birth on this island as those whose ancestors were Irish.
The Deputy could talk about a few other exiles.
Having considered all the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 31.