Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 31. I will call on the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their 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 debate the following specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent consideration, namely, reports that preparation for this weekend's May Day EU enlargement celebration include the following: the deployment of armed Garda patrols on Dublin's streets throughout this week; deployment of more than half the Garda force on the day itself; the unprecedented equipping of the Garda with water cannons borrowed from the PSNI; the transfer of prisoners from one full wing of Cloverhill Prison to Wheatfield Prison where they will sleep double-bunked on the floor in order to accommodate the anticipated mass arrests; the need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to account to this House for these decisions and to reassure the Dáil that he has taken appropriate steps to ensure that there will be no repeat of Garda over-reaction, including the unprovoked assaults on peaceful protesters that we witnessed on May Day 2002.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter, namely, the need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to act immediately to ensure the safe release from incarceration in Colombia of Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, to provide for their security upon release and that of their lawyers and members of the Bring them Home Campaign present in Colombia, especially in light of the grave danger to their lives which is widely acknowledged, given the current volatile situation in that country, and to make certain of their immediate return home to their families in Ireland.
Go gcuirfí ar athló gnó na Dála faoi Bhuan-Ordú 31 chun scéal práinneach agus tábhachtach a phlé, namely, the need for the Minister for Education and Science to meet with Mr. Tom Sweeney, who is on hunger strike, who raises many pertinent questions in the area of accountability and organisation of the Residential Institutions Redress Board and who is now facing into his third week on hunger strike outside Leinster House; and the need to prevent any further suffering to Mr. Sweeney and the many people affected by this issue.
I have considered the matters raised and they are not in order under Standing Order 31.
A Cheann Comhairle, I submitted a request to your office on time.
A notice arrived in my office with no name on it. My private secretary made numerous efforts to find out whom it was from, including contacting the fax number from which it came. It was not signed.
That may be the case. I am sorry. Would the Chair allow me to make the request as it was on time?
That would create a dangerous precedent.