Before coming to the Order of Business I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 31. 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 31.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil to discuss the following urgent matter: the appalling, unsafe and overcrowded conditions at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street; the need for the immediate release of funds for emergency interim measures; and the progression of building design plans to cater for the relocation of the hospital at the earliest possible date.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following urgent matters: the decision by the North Eastern Health Board to downgrade Louth County Hospital in Dundalk by ending consultant surgical services after 5 p.m. daily; the unnecessary and dangerous proposal to transfer patients to the already overcrowded Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda; the necessity for the Government to provide adequate health care cover for all people in County Louth: the need to end of drip-feed closure announcements, the latest of which came through the LM/FM "Loose Talk" programme; and the downgrading of health care services generally.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following urgent matter: to ask the Minister for Education and Science to report on the actions he has taken to resolve the protest taking place outside Leinster House where Mr. Tom Sweeney is conducting a hunger strike in an attempt to have the Minister take initiatives to put adequate systems in place to allow victims of abuse to have their cases heard in a satisfactory manner.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following urgent matter: the criminal waste of up to €50 million of taxpayers' funds on voting machines which cannot be used for the local and European elections on 11 June; the reason the Taoiseach and the Government allowed the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government arrogantly to dismiss the objections raised by a wide range of individuals to his proposals for electronic voting and thus incur this expenditure; and the need for the Minister to be separated from the Government, recycled to the back benches and hopefully landfilled by the people of Waterford at the next general election.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following urgent matter: the need for the Minister for Health and Children to indicate when €2 million will be made available to the South Eastern Health Board to resource the new unit at South Tipperary General Hospital. The delay has caused severe distress to staff and patients. I ask the Minister to make this funding available as a matter of urgency if the unit is to be retained. Management of the hospital and the people of south Tipperary waited a long time to have this unit provided. It is vital that the unit be run to full capacity and not lost to the county.
Having considered the matters carefully, I do not consider them to be in order under Standing Order 31.
May I raise a point of order? What does constitute a matter of national importance?
The Mountains of Mourne falling on top of Monaghan.
The health service will be the subject of Private Members' business tonight and tomorrow night. There will be an opportunity to raise health matters during that debate.