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 Higgins (Mayo) — the need to clarify the position in regard to court cases involving assaults on persons which are currently pending in light of last week's High Court decision that assault and battery may no longer be a crime in this jurisdiction; (2) Deputy Deenihan — the provision of the necessary funding to enable stage 4 of the Listowel regional water scheme to go ahead; (3) Deputy Ellis — the proposed redundancies at Ballinamore Textiles, Ballinamore, County Leitrim; Deputy Donal Moynihan — to report on the progress made in regard to the live cattle and beef trade in Egypt following the recent visit there by the Minister; (4) Deputy Gay Mitchell — the need to deal with the deplorable state of Cork Street, Dublin 8, which is the last derelict main route to the city centre; (5) Deputy Neville — the need to publish the final report of the National Task Force on Suicide; (6) Deputy Fitzgerald — the shortage of nurses in Irish hospitals; (7) Deputy Marian McGennis — the status of the report of the group formed to produce guidelines on prescribing and dispensing of methadone and the need to introduce regulations to prevent the dispensing of methadone in quantities greater than 100 milligrams and physeptone in quantities greater than 250 milligrams; (8) Deputy Jim O'Keeffe — the delay in completing repairs to the Garda station at Ballinspittle, County Cork, and to urge the completion of same as soon as possible; (9) Deputy Rabbitte — the decision of Guinness and publicans to impose an increase of 5p in the price of the pint with particular regard to its impact on the consumer price index and inflation figures; (10) Deputy Penrose and Deputy McGrath — the urgent need for funding to permit an extension of the Taghmon mains water supply scheme from Drumond Cross to Killucan, County Westmeath; (11) Deputy Fox — the inadequate funding provided by the Government to Dundalk residents in regard to their court case against Sellafield; and (12) Deputy Gormley — the Government's failure to fund the legal case of the STAD group in Dundalk.
The matters raised by Deputies Rabbitte, Gormley, Fitzgerald, Penrose and McGrath have been selected for discussion.