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 debate the following urgent matter: the urgent need to recognise Irish sign language officially as the language for the 5,000 people in the deaf community and the 35,000 other people who use Irish sign language; to give it a status equal to that of the spoken language; and to give the Irish Deaf Society maximum support.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the problems being encountered by parents of children with special educational needs in accessing second level school places. In a recent parliamentary reply communicated to me from the Minister for Education and Science it was stated that the National Council for Special Education had no way of knowing how many children will require special educational facilities as they make the transition from primary to secondary school. During the five-year lead-in period for the NCSE, no attempt has been made to ensure that the needs of children in these circumstances are anticipated and provided for in line with their requirements. I call on the Minister for Education and Science to implement a comprehensive planned and co-ordinated policy on the provision of education to children with special educational needs from infancy to adulthood.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: to investigate fully the impact of the Government decision to sell a majority stake in Aer Lingus, in light of the experience of national airline privatisation, for example, in New Zealand, in the absence of any alternative to aviation kerosene with the pending peak oil impact on fuel supplies, and in the face of the industrial unrest such a unilateral decision is likely to have on the social partnership talks and on employment at Aer Lingus itself; and the need for this Government to answer to the people for its reckless and short-sighted actions.
Having considered the matters raised, they are not in order under Standing Order 31.