I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given to me under Standing Order 20 (3) (a) and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy J. Mitchell — the conflict between replies made by the Minister for Health in Dáil Éireann on 24 June regarding clinical waste and specifically on the proposed incinerator at St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8 and a letter issued by him on the same day to one Deputy of the House; (2) Deputy S. Barrett — the subject matter of Question No. 143 to the Minister for Education on Tuesday, 28 April 1992 regarding the Dublin language and learning unit; (3) Deputy T. Ahearn — the alarming number of people failing their driving tests, in particular the case of a person (details supplied) in south Tipperary; the need to review the criteria for passing driving tests and to investigate the reason the failure rate is so high; (4) Deputy Allen — the situation whereby individuals within a hospital (details supplied) were running a private business using hospital equipment and staff with a consequent loss to the Southern Health Board; (5) Deputy Taylor — the threat to the continued existence of the Adelaide Hospital as indicated in the recent statement of the chairman of the board of that hospital (details supplied); (6) Deputy Byrne — the decision of the Department of Social Welfare to end alleviation payments which have been paid to certain social welfare recipients since 1986, and the consequent hardship which will be caused to thousands of people on social welfare, including those on old age and disability pensions, who will face a drop in their income of up to £16 per week.
I have selected for discussion the matters raised by Deputies Allen, Taylor and Byrne.