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 Boylan — the need to discuss the low prices being offered by factories for reactor cattle; (2) Deputy O'Sullivan — the need for the Minister for Finance to renew his efforts to convince his fellow EU Ministers to retain duty free facilities until other aspects of tax harmonisation have been completed within the EU; (3) Deputy Ring — the need for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to make every effort to keep the Betatherm Thermistor enterprise in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, and, failing this, the need for a task force to be set up to secure a replacement industry; (4) Deputy Cooper-Flynn — the need to set up a task force to find replacement jobs in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, following the announced closure of Betatherm and the loss of 36 jobs; (5) Deputy Foley — the need to discuss the delay by the Department of Agriculture and Food in transferring the milk quota of a named person (details supplied) from Kerry Agri Business to Golden Vale; (6) Deputy Ulick Burke — the need for the Minister to indicate the Government's intentions to carry out work to alleviate flooding in south Galway following the presentation of the report and its recognition of the serious problems caused by past flooding and the fear of recurrence in these areas in the future; (7) Deputy McManus — the need to discuss the difficulties created for asylum seekers by the refusal of the Department of the Environment and Local Government to issue them with provisional driving licences and the decision to revoke a number of those already issued; (8) Deputy Fleming — the need to discuss the recent closure of C & M Europe in Portlaoise with the loss of 50 jobs and the measures the Government proposes to take to find replacements for these jobs and to ensure a higher priority is given to promoting employment and investment opportunities in Portlaoise and County Laois; (9) Deputy Upton — the need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to develop alternatives to prison based on the concept of restorative justice; (10) Deputy Gerard Reynolds — the reason a 30 bed dementia unit, which cost £750,000 and was officially opened by the Minister for Health and Children in June 1998, still remains closed; (11) Deputy Neville — the increase in suicide rates by 20 per cent for the first six months of 1998; (12) Deputy Kenny — the need to appoint a task force to co-ordinate a planned approach to deal with the situation in Ballinrobe, County Mayo and surrounding region arising from the sudden decision of Betatherm Thermistor to relocate to Barbados with the loss of almost 40 jobs and the consequent proportionate loss of income to the area.
The matters raised by Deputies Cooper-Flynn, Kenny, Foley and O'Sullivan have been selected for discussion.