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 Michael Ahern — the crisis in the school orthodontic programme in the Cork region due to a severe shortage of orthodontic staff; (2) Deputy Martin — the need to guarantee to both junior certificate and leaving certificate examination students that this year's State examinations will not be jeopardised by the ongoing industrial relations dispute in the examinations branch of the Department of Education; (3) Deputy Joe Walsh — the provision of additional protection for Irish trawlers and their crews on the fishing grounds off the south-west coast; (4) Deputy Costello — the need to retain an effective tourist information service in O'Connell Street; (5) Deputy Kenneally — the failure to put forward a compensation package for farmers in the Nire Valley area of the Comeragh Mountains in County Waterford, who suffered severe losses during a snow blizzard in March 1996; (6) Deputy Ring — the reason no action has been taken to provide a school bus for the Killeen area of Louisburgh, County Mayo, in view of the fact that the bus was sanctioned on 18 December 1996; (7) Deputy Keaveney — the urgent need for classroom assistants to be appointed to the special pilot unit of Scoil Iosagáin, Buncrana, County Donegal; (8) Deputy Lawlor — the urgent need to address the continuing serious traffic congestion on the N4 Galway Road at its junction with Palmerstown, Dublin 20 and the need for funding to be made available to the National Roads Authority to construct a grade separated junction to alleviate congestion; (9) Deputy de Valera — the need to provide additional funding to the Mid-Western Health Board in view of the crisis at the Clare Haven House Women's Refuge, County Clare; (10) Deputy Batt O'Keeffe — the need to counteract the cut by the Higher Education Authority in the allocation to universities for research equipment; (11) Deputy Frances Fitzgerald — the request by Dublin Port and Docks Board for planning permission to build on City Quay.
The matters raised by Deputies de Valera, Martin, Batt O'Keeffe and Kenneally have been selected for discussion.