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 Deenihan – the lack of services for autistic children in County Kerry and the need to provide extra resources; (2) Deputy Perry – the announcement of the national ban on coal and PET coke resulting in fuel shortages, higher prices and hardship to consumers; (3) Deputy Michael D. Higgins – the Minister's policy on broadcasting in the Irish language, and in particular on such provision as might meet the communication rights of those in the Gaeltacht and those in the Irish language speaking communities outside it; (4) Deputy Fitzgerald – the closure and threatened closure of local post offices in Dublin; (5) Deputy Gormley – the need to ensure that post offices are retained in villages as an essential service. (6) Deputy Tom Hayes – the provision of funding to commence extensions to Our Lady's Hospital, Cashel; (7) Deputy Aylward – the provision of additional funding to Kilkenny County Council to enable payment of grants under the disabled persons grant scheme and essential repairs scheme; (8) Deputy McGuinness – the need to review safety standards in the design of new roads and to improve standards on some existing roads, particularly at right hand turn junctions; (9) Deputy Crawford – the need for Government intervention or support towards taxi drivers' insurance which has doubled or trebled in the last 12 months; (10) Deputy O'Shea – the crisis facing the Irish Museum of Modern Art arising from the resignation of two directors; and the need to consider the appointment of a new board; (11) Deputy Neville – the decision to scrap plans to develop a gas-powered electricity generating station on the Shannon Estuary; (12) Deputy Allen – the need to approve increased subvention rates for elderly people in nursing homes; (13) Deputy Hogan – the need to investigate the death of an infant and to review the safety features of these children's buggies; (14) Deputy McGrath – the loss of 119 jobs at Foxtec Irl. Limited. in Mullingar, County Westmeath and the need for the Government to establish a task force to find an alternative industry for this factory; and (15) Deputy Penrose – the implications for employment in Westmeath of the loss of 119 jobs at Foxtec Engineering, Mullingar, and the need for the Minister to request the job creation agencies to make particular efforts to find replacement employment for these and other jobs lost in the area in recent months.
The matters raised by Deputies Crawford, Fitzgerald and Gormley, Allen and Aylward have been selected for discussion.