I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given to me under Standing Order 21 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Dukes — the threatened closure of the Borden plant in Athy, County Kildare; (2) Deputy Lawlor — the level of financial and other assistance the Government may be in a position to provide towards securing the safety of the reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine; (3) Deputy Broughan — the need to end the C45 system of tax collection for certain trades in the construction industry given the serious allegations of tax evasion and other abuses in that industry; (4) Deputy McManus — the reply by the Minister for Health and Children to Question No. 52 of 29 January and reports that he intends to withhold from publication part of the research commissioned from the department of sociology, Trinity College by the previous Government into the background to crisis pregnancies and abortion; (5) Deputies Penrose and Ferris — the failure of the Government to fund small abattoirs to comply with Council Directive 91/497/EEC and Council Directive 95/23/EEC; (6) Deputy Gay Mitchell — the subject matter of Question No. 768 of 28 January to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform about the harassment of a couple (details supplied) in Dublin 12; (7) Deputy Michael Ahern — the chaotic traffic situation in the town of Fermoy and the necessity to alleviate this problem by the inclusion of the Fermoy bypass in the next operational programme; (8) Deputy Allen — the need for a full investigation to be carried out following the sudden closure of Millfield Textiles in Cork with the loss of more than 100 jobs; (9) Deputy Timmins — the qualification criteria for rural environment protection scheme payments for Wicklow mountain sheep farmers.
The matters raised by Deputies Allen, Lawlor, Timmins and Broughan have been selected for discussion.