I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 31 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Hogan – the need for the Minister to accept the responsibility for the alarming deterioration in the competitiveness of the Irish economy as outlined in the recent report of the World Economic Forum; (2) Deputy Finian McGrath – to request a debate on conditions at Beaumont Hospital; (3) Deputy O'Dowd – the need to contribute to the cost of the Ballymakenny Cross route in Drogheda, County Louth; (4) Deputy Pat Breen – the need for the Minister for Health and Children and the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to intervene and prevent an all-out strike of SIPTU members in the County Clare health services arising from the suspension without pay of three receptionists who were transferred from Our Lady's Hospital to the general hospital in Ennis; (5) Deputy Cowley – to raise the matter of the crisis in north-west Mayo due to a declining population and to ask whether urgent steps can be taken to halt the population decline by providing replacement industries for those lost and to set up a Shannon Development type tax scheme to revitalise the area and to take any other steps necessary to save this area from total decline; and (6) Deputy Boyle – to ask the Minister to inform the House what immediate measures the Government intends to take to deal with the effects of severe flooding in Cork city last evening, 20 November.
The matters raised by Deputies Boyle, Finian McGrath, Pat Breen and O'Dowd have been selected for discussion.