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 under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of urgent national importance, namely, the need to assist the 52% of children in disadvantaged areas that are not ready for primary school, the 26% of children displaying significant conduct problems before starting school and the need for the Department of Education and Science to support creative new proposals to assist these children.
I propose the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss the following matter of urgent public and national concern, namely, the severe and damaging impact of the nitrates directive on productive farming in Ireland, with the consequent grave implications for pig and poultry farmers and mushroom producers and the disposal of pig and poultry manure and factory offal, the major threat to the future of Irish cereal production, 75% of which is consumed by the pig and poultry sector. I call on the Government to defer the implementation of the nitrates directive and to delete table Nos. 10 to 21 from the nitrates regulations in the interest of the protection of water quality and to allow Irish farmers to remain competitive.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of urgent importance, namely, the serious and persistently high unemployment levels in excess of 20% in the town of Carrick-on-Suir, where 890 of the town's population of 5,000 are unemployed, the exacerbation of that situation by the closure of SRAM Ireland with the loss of a further 53 jobs. I ask the Minister to instruct the industrial promotion agencies to prioritise Carrick-on-Suir for job creation and investment, to establish a jobs task force for the town, to outline the number of site visits by the industrial promotion agencies to the town in the last six months and to make a statement on the matter.
I ask under the terms of Standing Order 31 that this House be adjourned to debate an issue of national importance, namely, the need for this Government to express its full confidence in the Minister for Transport by clarifying its exact position on the M50 tolls issue, the €500 million cost overrun on the M50 widening scheme to date, and the patent lack of a viable public transport alternative which, as the Tánaiste well knows, will leave another generation of commuters in west and southwest Dublin who work outside the city centre with no choice but to commute by car, wasting hours of productive time stuck in gridlock, costing them their good health and costing our economy dearly.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of urgent importance, namely, why alternative medical practitioners are still allowed to carry on unregulated when people are losing their lives as a direct result of their actions, and whose deaths could have been avoided if the Government took the action it has promised for years. Nothing is being done about it and people are dying because of that, which is a disgrace.
No vested interest there.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss an issue of urgent public importance, namely, the application by BASF to use a five acre plot in County Meath to grow genetically modified potatoes, the long term knock-on effects of such a prospect on the marketing of Irish conventional and organic food produce, the need for the Government to explain why it is failing to protect Irish agriculture and why the failure of transparency in the attempted import of GM maize through Greenore Port has been tolerated.
Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 31.
I wish to raise a point of order. Why has the Ceann Comhairle's office ruled out my matter to be raised under Standing Order 31?
It is not in order.
It is in order. I am entitled to know the basis on which it has been ruled out. The standing order states that the adjournment on an important matter of public interest requiring urgent attention——
I have told the Deputy that this is not a point of order.
More than 25% of the people of Carrick-on-Suir are unemployed and I cannot understand why that is not a matter of public interest.
The Deputy knows that there are other ways of raising this issue.
How does the Ceann Comhairle's office decide that such an issue is not matter of urgent importance?
The Deputy should go to the Ceann Comhairle's office.
I appreciate it is not your decision, Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but the Ceann Comhairle's office is out of order on this matter.
The Deputy is out of order.
This is an urgent situation and I ask the Ceann Comhairle's office to allow a debate on the subject.
It is not a point of order.
It is an absolute disgrace that a situation where 25% of the population of a town is unemployed and a factory has just closed is not a matter for consideration in this House.
The Deputy knows that there are other ways of raising this matter.