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 Members in each case: (1) Deputy McGuinness – the urgent need to provide high capacity broad band infrastructure to each of the regions in an effort to capitalise on the investment already made by the IDA in advance factories and office blocks and to assist in creating a positive profile for Ireland as the e-commerce hub of Europe; (2) Deputy Timmins – the provision of additional classroom facilities at St. Mary's primary school, Blessington, County Wicklow; (3) Deputy Perry – the urgent need to ensure a teaching position is not lost at Scoil Ursula national school, Strandhill Road, Sligo, in view of the increase in numbers in the school catchment area; (4) Deputy Ellis – the question of the remedial work to be carried at Cornagee national school, County Leitrim; (5) Deputy Sargent – that the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, noting the evidence that decisions to amend proposed SAC designated areas have been based on economic rather than scientific considerations, investigates fully the complaints being made against Dúchas by several environmental NGOs and ensures that scientific criteria only are considered in SAC designations and appeals; (6) Deputy Finucane – the need to proceed as a matter of urgency with Gaelscoil Ó Dhogair in Caislean Nua, Contae Luimnigh; (7) Deputy Ring – the need for the Minister for Health and Children to confirm if the finalised published report on development of services for symptomatic breast disease by the National Cancer Forum has become available; confirm if he has read it; confirm if it has been circulated to the chief executive officers of the health board; confirm if he has made any recommendations of refusal or acceptance of the report and make a full and detailed statement on this matter; (8) Deputy Ulick Burke – the need to concentrate efforts for the provision of resources and jobs to the mid-west region given the latest indication of job losses in the region and the need for a greater share to be directed to this region as a matter of urgency; (9) Deputy Connaughton – the subject matter of the issue of an export licence and subsequent staffing arrangements for a meat processing factory (details supplied); (10) Deputy Seán Ryan – the crisis in the orthodontic service in the greater Dublin area where more than 10,000 children are on a waiting list; (11) Deputy Rabbitte – the serious bed shortage in Tallaght hospital which has resulted in long delays for admissions, such as in the case of a person (details supplied); (12) Deputy Donal Moynihan – the possibility of decentralisation of Government offices to Macroom and other north west Cork towns; (13) Deputy Johnny Brady – the urgent need to have further consideration given to the request of Kells Urban District Council to have a Book of Kells exhibition at the new heritage centre in Kells; (14) Deputy Fitzgerald – the crisis in child care, the loss of 4,000 places and the urgent need for a package of measures to deal with it; (15) Deputy Allen – the situation whereby phase one workers on the jobs initiative programme will see their contracts expire at the end of June 2000 and what the Tanáiste proposes to do to avoid those workers returning to dependence on social welfare; (16) Deputy Naughten – the need for the Government to provide funding for the raising of roads and the compensation for householders in County Roscommon following the severe flooding of the Shannon Basin last winter; (17) Deputy Upton – the need to examine closely the developments in human genetics, with particular regard to the completion of work on the genome, with a view to ensuring that legislation will be prepared to guard against genetic discrimination; (18) Deputy Shatter – the removal of a teacher from the Good Shepherd national school, Churchtown, for the school year commencing next September; (19) Deputy Enright – to ask the Minister for Health and Children if he has been in further communication with the Midland Health Board in regard to the death of a person (details supplied) who was directed in writing by his family doctor to be admitted to Portlaoise General Hospital on Sunday, 5 December 1999, and who attended the hospital while gravely ill, requiring both medication and oxygen while in hospital, and who was later sent home from hospital by ambulance and died at his home on 6 December 1999 at 3 a.m., if he has further investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of this patient and if the Midland Health Board has concluded its investigations and reported back to the Minister in this tragic case; and (20) Deputy Sheehan – to ask the Minister for Finance to explain why he would not agree to pay the millennium centenarian bounty of £200 each to the small number of people who had reached the 100 years plus on 1 January 2000.
The matters raised by Deputies Timmins, Finu cane, Donal Moynihan and Rabbitte have been selected for discussion.