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 Gilmore — the case of a ten year old child (details supplied) who has been unable to attend a school since last November because her parents have been unable to obtain a suitable placing for her; (2) Deputy Deenihan — the need to provide necessary finance as a matter of urgency for additional accommodation at Kilconly national school, Ballybunion, County Kerry, in view of the serious overcrowding in the school; (3) Deputy Creed — the need to outline the rationale behind his decision to relocate certain functions of the Department of Agriculture and Food from Hibernian House, South Mall, Cork to Clonakilty; (4) Deputy Timmins — the failure of the Government to join the Partnership for Peace; (5) Deputy Finucane — the need to outline the attempts that have been made to find replacement industries for both Newcastle West and Kilmallock, following the closure on 15 December 1995 of Neodata with the loss of 107 jobs; (6) Deputy Moloney — the need to designate Portlaoise as a centre for further decentralisation of Government offices; (7) Deputy Upton — the need to address the serious defects in the science and technology programme for the third level sector; (8) Deputy Breeda Moynihan-Cronin — the need to retain a third assistant teacher at Ballyferriter national school, County Kerry; (9) Deputy McGinley — the serious unemployment in the north-west, especially in County Donegal, where according to the IDA annual report for 1997 less than 2 per cent of overall jobs created in IDA associated industries went to the region; (10) Deputy Gerry Reynolds — the need to ensure that the Department of Education and Science does not reduce by one the number of teachers at Scoil na Maighdine Muire, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim; (11) Deputy Lawlor — the soaring costs of rental accommodation in the Dublin area for individuals and families on low incomes with the attendant increase in homelessness and families being housed in bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels; the pressure for increases in rent allowances paid through the Eastern Health Board and the need for an increase in the house building programmes of the local authorities in the Dublin area; (12) Deputy Shatter — the failure of the Eastern Health Board to properly investigate 379 cases reported of child abuse and a total of 1,121 reports relating to children who are on a waiting list for social services.
The matters raised by Deputies Finucane, Timmins, Creed and Breeda Moynihan-Cronin have been selected for discussion.