I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 20 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Dermot Ahern — the difficulties in the Dundalk area, County Louth, regarding children at risk; (2) Deputy Ring — the reason for the removal of a school bus service from students attending Louisburgh secondary school, County Mayo— (3) Deputy Leonard — the collapse of pig slaughtering plants in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency which has resulted in substantial loss of jobs; (4) Deputy Briscoe — the need to deal with the growing problem of knife attacks and to declare a temporary amnesty to facilitate the surrender of knives to the Garda Síochána; (5) Deputy Browne (Wexford)— the proposal by Irish Ferries to withdraw ferry services between Rosslare and France during the winter months; (6) Deputy O'Rourke — the need to take immediate steps to secure the plant and technology at Semperit to ensure that a buyer can be attracted quickly into the factory; the level of IDA funding given for this technology; the reason the Minister for Enterprise and Employment allegedly delayed his visit to the Semperit headquarters in Germany until the last minute; the prevention by Semperit of access by potential buyers to the factory; and the steps which the Minister will take to replace Semperit and remedy these difficulties; (7) Deputy Lawlor — the closure of the Semperit factory and the consequent devastating impact on the economy of parts of the Dublin West constituency; the alleged failure of the Government to act earlier unlike its counterpart in Austria; the need for all obstacles to obtaining a new buyer to be removed by Continental AG; and the need for the Government to take urgent action at EU level to address the transborder manipulation of labour markets and the export of jobs from the EU; (8) Deputy Keogh — the alleged disregard by the Minister for Education of stated Government policy in setting down new regulations for the recognition of Gaelscoileanna which had the effect of excluding seven schools from establishment in 1996 thus causing great distress to pupils, parents, staff and local communities; (9) Deputy Quill — the exclusion of two schools (details supplied) in Cork city from the “Breaking the Cycle” scheme and the measures which the Minister for Education will take to rectify the situation; (10) Deputy Raphael Burke — the need for the Minister for Education to approve immediately funding to allow work to commence on the urgently required extension to Loreto secondary school, Balbriggan, County Dublin, in view of the fact that the school which was built to accommodate 500 pupils now has 929 pupils; (11) Deputy O'Donnell — the appointment of a retired judge to inquire into allegations that vulnerable youths were passed from State care into the control of a paedophile priest; (12) Deputy Tom Kitt — the steps which the Minister for Enterprise and Employment has taken to find a purchaser for the Semperit tyre plant at Ballyfermot, Dublin; (13) Deputy Mary Wallace — the failure of the Government to publish a major report on health services for people with disabilities; (14) Deputy Davern — the recent job losses in south County Tipperary.
The matters raised by Deputies Keogh, O'Rourke, Davern and Browne (Wexford) have been selected for discussion.