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 Hayes — the need for the Minister for Health and Children to establish a national register of practitioners for acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and to establish national standards for the training of such practitioners; (2) Deputy Wall — the urgent need to address the serious shortfall in staffing levels in the Kildare Vocational Education Committee scheme; (3) Deputy Perry — the need to include additional district electoral divisions (details supplied) in County Sligo in the fodder relief scheme in view of the extreme hardship encountered by a vast number of farmers who reside in the excluded DED's. Farmers from these regions are now forced to remove cattle from this area to cattle feeding sheds in County Kildare where lease rates can vary up to £8 per week per animal. Can the Minister now include these additional DED's; (4) Deputy Clune — the circumstances surrounding the death of a woman who was hit by a car driven by a person on temporary release from prison; (5) Deputy Ulick Burke — the need for the Minister to provide adequate resources and manpower in south Galway stretching from Gort to Kinvara and Athenry to increase a Garda presence in this area following recent alarming attacks within this area; (6) Deputy Fitzgerald — the reported attempted abductions of children in recent weeks; (7) Deputy Shortall — the urgent need for the Minister for Health and Children to outline the action his Department has taken on foot of the revelations regarding the number of caesarean hysterectomy operations performed by an obstetrician in a certain hospital; (8) Deputy Farrelly — if the Minister will immediately provide moneys for the necessary work to St. Mary's special school Athlumney, Navan — following a decision by the fire officer of Meath County Council to close this school — so that children can continue to attend there.
The matters raised by Deputies Hayes, Shortall, Clune and Fitzgerald have been selected for discussion.