Before coming to the Order of Business, I propose to deal with two matters under Standing Order 32. I will call on the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their notices to my office.
Requests to move Adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32
Totally under the radar, the Minister for Social Protection——
I ask the Deputy to please read out the notice he submitted in accordance with Standing Orders.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, that totally under the radar the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, has announced €65 million in annual cuts to the fuel allowance and——
Fianna Fáil introduced that proposed cut and the Deputy's father supported it.
Order please.
——free electricity and gas schemes. The fuel allowance has been cut to a standardised €20 per week, a cut of €3.90 a week. There is also to be——
(Interruptions).
Please allow the Deputy speak.
If a Deputy on the other side of the House has something to say to me, he should say it to me outside.
(Interruptions).
I am not in the habit of interrupting other people.
I am trying to get order. Please give the Deputy the respect he deserves. It is a new thing to interrupt a Deputy on a Standing Order 32 matter, and it is not the slightest bit funny.
The fuel allowance has been cut to a standardised €20 per week, a cut of €3.90 per week, and there is to be a 25% cut in the free electricity-gas allowance from 2,400 to 1,800 units annually, or from 400 to 300 units per two-month billing period. There is also a cut in the free telephone allowance——
(Interruptions).
——but Eircom is absorbing the cost for its customers. Those mainly affected will be old aged pensioners, the disabled and widows. The cuts take effect as of 1 September. I call on the Government to reverse these particularly mean cuts.
I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the impending reconfiguration of pre-hospital emergency care in the Health Service Executive south area, which will result in a major skills mix deficit due to changes in service delivery rosters and will leave the town of Youghal completely without ambulance cover.
Having considered the matters raised, my view is that they are not in order under Standing Order 32.