I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the urgent need for funding to provide a sexual assault unit in Kerry General Hospital. At present, rape victims have to travel to Cork or Waterford, leaving the victims to travel for hours in the clothes that they were wearing at the time of the assault; vital DNA could also be lost due to the delay. These victims often have to travel by taxi and, therefore, their anonymity is no longer guaranteed. Surely these unfortunate people have been through enough. The standard of reporting is very low compared to the number of attacks that occur. Basic services like this unit are needed for Kerry General Hospital. The Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, where services are available for all types of sexual violence, childhood abuse, rape and sexual assault, needs €260,000 per year to keep this service running. This centre caters for the whole of the county in conjunction with Kerry General Hospital and the Garda Síochána.
Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 31.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, why drift net fishermen in north-east England were given Stg£70,000 a number of years ago in a buyout in the interests of salmon conservation and Stg£110,000 is being offered to those remaining as a buyout, while only approximately €2,000 is being offered to our 850 drift net fishermen for a similar buyout with a disgraceful €23 euro per salmon caught in the last five years, with a quota reduction of 75% already unfairly operating, which is supposed to satisfy their needs for the rest of their existence, having had the licence for up to 30 years in some cases, with no provision for the drift net crew or any other option considered for them or for wild salmon dealers; and whether this is at all equitable considering the devastating effect on those men and their families in rural areas for the rest of their lives, considering that ESOT Aer Lingus workers were treated equitably by comparison.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the implications of the most recent report from a committee of the European Parliament in regard to the abuse of human rights through extraordinary rendition, which has suggested that Ireland is not in a position to deny that it was not involved in the transport of those illegally apprehended, transferred and tortured; the position which has arisen in which Ireland's international policy in regard to human rights has been placed by the failure to carry out the inspections possible or necessary to enable the Irish people to know for certain they were not part of this appalling abuse of human rights.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, recognising the potential for peace posed by the current ceasefire, the urgent need for the Government to recognise on this international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people that the source cause of the humanitarian failures and human rights abuses in the area is ultimately the Israeli occupation itself, and that the international community, including Ireland, must finally act on its responsibility to bring an end to this illegal occupation, as highlighted by human rights NGO, Al-Haq; that during the past 365 days Israeli military operations resulted in the deaths of 562 Palestinians, many of whom were civilians, including 86 children; and the urgent need for the Government to follow the example of active citizenship demonstrated by Irish Palestinian Solidarity Committee members in Limerick last weekend, who persuaded Atlantic Homecare to remove Israeli goods from the shop floor, by suspending preferential trade between the EU and Israel.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the need for the Government and the Dáil to acknowledge that it is unforgivable that one in ten children — approximately 100,000 children — is living in consistent poverty, and calls on the Minister for Finance in his budget to prioritise the eradication of child poverty and include the introduction of a new targeted child income support and increase the child dependant allowance to a minimum of €25 per week, as this payment has not been increased since 1994.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a specific and important matter of public interest that requires urgent consideration, namely, the fact that the European Commission is set to reject the Government's plan for greenhouse gas reductions on the basis the plan is deemed insufficient to meet Ireland's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Ireland may be forced to——
It is not appropriate to go beyond the notice submitted to the Office of the Ceann Comhairle.
An essay was put into the record by the Deputy beside me.
The Chair has suggested in the past that such notices should be kept brief. The Office of the Ceann Comhairle has written to Members about the need to keep contributions brief.
I will take that on board.
Members cannot go beyond the notices they submit to my office.
I will be brief. I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise an issue of urgent public importance, namely, the report by a European Parliament committee on the transport and illegal detention of prisoners by the CIA which criticised the Government and expressed serious concern about the 147 stopovers at Irish airports by aircraft involved in such illegal activities.
I wish to seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to raise a matter of local and national interest, namely, the fact that, with one garda for every 558 people, the Carlow-Kildare Garda division has the lowest ratio of gardaí to population in the State; the increase of 55% in serious crime in the Carlow-Kildare division since 2000; the detection rate of 30% in the division, which is one of the lowest rates in the State; the lack of a Garda barracks in Leixlip; the failure to provide for a 24-hour Garda barracks in Celbridge, Maynooth and Leixlip, which have a combined population of 45,324; the fact that Kilcock, Maynooth and Leixlip, which are within eight miles of each other, are in three different Garda divisions; and the refusal of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to take effective action on the issues I have outlined, citing operational matters as his reason for refusing to do so.
Hear, hear. The Minister should answer that.
Having considered the matters raised, I do not consider them to be in order under Standing Order 31.