I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 21 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Seán Ryan – the urgent need for additional gardaí and resources for Swords, Balbriggan and Malahide Garda stations; (2) Deputy Creed – the proposed extension to St. Mary's Secondary School, Macroom; (3) Deputy Ulick Burke – the urgent need to review the criteria for entrance to community employment schemes; (4) Deputy Keaveney – the need to take action to tackle the unemployment problem in the north west region; (5) Deputy Deasy – the need for the Minister for Defence to take immediate steps to provide a 24 hour sea rescue helicopter service at Waterford airport; (6) Deputy Neville – the need to address the issue of child poverty; (7) Deputy Shatter – the need to construct additional permanent classrooms for the pupils of St. Colmcille's primary school Knocklyon, Dublin 16, to provide a library in the school and other essential facilities; (8) Deputy Deenihan – the need for an extension at O'Brennan school Ballymacelligott, County Kerry; (9) Deputy Enright – the response of the Minister for Education and Science to Parliamentary Question No. 159 on 9 November 2000; (10) Deputy Ring – the progress made by the working group on elderly abuse; (11) Deputy Jim Higgins – the cancellation of rail services throughout the country arising from the one day strike by Iarnród Éireann signal staff which has left 50,000 commuters without rail services and the further threatened action leading to further widespread disruption; (12) Deputy Gormley – the need for the Minister for Defence to outline the Government's position on the EU rapid reaction force before any pledges are made to the EU next week; (13) Deputy Michael Higgins – the urgent need for the Government to outline Ireland's role in the proposed EU rapid reaction force before it makes any commitments at the forthcoming capabilities conference in Brussels; (14) Deputy Bradford – the need to increase the level of maintenance grants for third level students; (15) Deputy Kenny – the strike by 16,000 secondary teachers members of ASTI and the failure of the Minister to resolve the dispute.
The matters raised by Deputies Bradford, Jim Higgins, Michael Higgins and Gormley have been selected for discussion.