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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Vol. 655 No. 1

Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32.

Iarratais chun tairiscint a dhéanamh an Dáil a chur ar athló faoi Bhuan-Ordú 32. There is a request to move the Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32. Before coming to the Order of Business I propose to deal with a number of notices under Standing Order 32.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise the urgent matter of the silence from the Taoiseach and his Ministers concerning the stance the Irish Government may or may not take in the event that Commissioner Mandelson will sell out his own farmers in the European Union to strike a deal at any price at the World Trade Organisation talks; if the Government accepts that while the consequences of such irresponsible behaviour will be disastrous for all European farmers, the result of an unbalanced WTO outcome for Irish farmers would be nothing short of catastrophic; if the Taoiseach accepts there is a vital national issue at stake in that regard; if he understands the real dilemma faced by countless thousands of Irish farmers, traditionally the most pro-European Union supporters in the country; if he is further aware that the suspicion on the part of all farmers of Commissioner Mandelson's motives is now turning towards his own Government; if he accepts that now is the opportune time to prove that the Irish Government will not let the farming community down in its hour of need; and if the veto will be invoked if Irish agriculture is decimated as a result of a botched WTO agreement. I am delighted the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach are in the Chamber to hear this.

Hear, hear. We will have that debate.

We had it yesterday in the foreign affairs committee.

I am just being helpful.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss an issue of local and national importance, that is, the unbelievable bombshell that despite the fact the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, following the signing the St. Andrews Agreement, gave a public commitment to the funding of a dual carriageway from Derry city and Donegal through Tyrone and Monaghan to Dublin, it has now been renegued on by the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, who has advised the Good Friday Agreement committee that although the Irish Government would provide funding for a dual carriageway from Derry to the Border, it will be only a single carriageway from there to Clontibret. That is an extraordinary turnaround but, more importantly, if allowed to happen will create chaos and no doubt lead to serious accidents. I urge that a debate be allowed.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the threat to rural development caused by the Government's neglect of rural areas since the last rural development programme of 2000 and the useless spin yesterday of announcing €425 million for rural development if it is not intended to spend the money, as is the case with the Border, midlands and west funding which reverts to the Exchequer annually.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the loss of 40 teachers in schools throughout the country, including in Scoil na mBráithre, in Tipperary town, due to a refusal to implement the programme for Government as signed in June 2007. The school in my constituency will lose one teacher next year because it is one student short of the number required in 2007. The future success and prosperity of this country is threatened by the lack of investment in education.

In accordance with the terms of Standing Order 32 I seek to move the adjournment of the Dáil to discuss the following specific and important matter of public interest requiring urgent attention, namely, the need for the Government to reconsider its decision not to underwrite the €39 million loan for Waterford Wedgwood to protect 550 jobs in the Waterford area. In view of the importance of this issue, I hope the Ceann Comhairle will agree to this request.

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss the following matter of urgent national importance, namely, the refusal of British Telecom, which has bases throughout this island, to negotiate with trade union representatives for its workers in the south of Ireland while willingly dealing with representatives for its northern and British workers; the double standards being practised by BT in this instance; and the need to make union recognition by employers an obligatory measure either in the current partnership talks or through future legislation.

I must remind some but not all Members that the Standing Order requires that the request be brief and concise. They are not meant to seek to emulate "Paradise Lost". In any event, tar éis breithniú a dhéanamh ar an nithe ardaithe, níl siad in ord faoi Bhuan-Ordú 32. Having considered the matters raised, I do not consider them to be in order under Standing Order 32.

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