Gilmore requests early Dáil recall

THE new Labour leader Eamon Gilmore yesterday called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to recall the Dáil a week early.

Mr Gilmore said he was making the request because of a series of national crises that emerged since the Dáil went into recess nine weeks ago.

Mr Gilmore said he had written to the Taoiseach saying the emergence of the issues coupled with the “virtual invisibility” of government had led to a sense of national drift.

Among other factors he brought up:

* The Shannon Crisis.

* The HSE ban on recruitment.

* Problems with the cancer-screening services.

* Doubts over the decentralisation programme.

*Stagnation in the housing market.

“When the Dáil adjourned on July 5, the Labour Party proposed that the Dáil should reconvene on September 11. Given the issues that have emerged in the meantime, I believe that you should now reconsider our proposal and agree to reconvene the Dáil,” he stated to the Taoiseach in the letter.