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 national importance, namely, the need for the Minister for Health and Children to make sure that proposals in the Bonner report, which he initiated, are put into action and that Monaghan General Hospital is put back on call. What has happened to Monaghan General Hospital since 2 July 2002 may be the norm for many other hospitals unless the Minister takes control and the Government decides who in future runs the health service.
I seek leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the Dáil on the following matter, namely, 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 that insures it is not the polluter who pays but ordinary PAYE workers, the necessity to return the power to make waste management plans to local authority members and 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.
I seek the adjournment of the House under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of urgent public importance, namely, the jailing of a Member of this House, Deputy Joe Higgins, and Councillor Clare Daly, for representing their constituents' opposition to the draconian policy of Fingal County Council in refusing to collect the household refuse bins of thousands of taxpayers boycotting the bin tax, the intention of the three other local authorities in the Dublin area to implement the same policy and the need to abolish the bin tax and fund local authorities adequately from central taxation, the vast bulk of which is paid by working people. I demand the immediate release of Deputy Joe Higgins. It is a scandal that he is in jail while the real criminals are walking the streets.
The Deputy has gone beyond the submission made to my office.
I seek leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 on the following specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, the critical situation which has arisen in Louth due to the decimation of essential services at Louth County Hospital, the result of which has led to the health needs of the ever-growing population in the Dundalk area not being met. The people of Dundalk are deeply concerned that even the promised midwife-led unit seems in doubt. The Minister must ensure that full services at the children's ward, the maternity unit and the gynaecology ward, all of which were closed by the North-Eastern Health Board and the Department of Health and Children, are restored immediately, that sufficient staff are appointed to all departments and that adequate provision of accident and emergency services is developed.
I wish to have the business of the House suspended under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of urgent public importance, namely, the revelation that the Government may be liable for €150 million medical negligence pay-out as part of a deal with medical consultants because the medical defence union may not be able to meet the cost of claims in obstetric cases prior to March 2001.
Under Standing Order 31 I request that Dáil Éireann be adjourned to address the need to determine what action is needed in the future to avoid, where possible, the damaging effects of severe weather conditions such as the particularly heavy rain which contributed to recent disasters such as the landslide in Mayo and cadmium poisoning in east Galway, and that such actions be made part of the plans to cope with climate change.
Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 31.