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 Neville – the need for an independent investigation into the death by suicide of a 21 year old student at Mid-Western Regional Hospital on 20 September 2002; (2) Deputy Healy – the need for south Tipperary to be included in the decentralisation programme to be announced shortly; (3) Deputy O'Dowd – the urgent need for a new primary school to replace Scoil Mhuire Fatima, Dublin Road, Drogheda, County Louth; (4) Deputy O'Sullivan – the conditions at St. Kieran's boys' national school, Galvone, Limerick, and the need to provide adequate funding to carry out repairs; (5) Deputy Finian McGrath – the high cost of insurance premia at Ard Scoil Rís, Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9, and the urgent need for a computer room at this school; (6) Deputy Perry – to ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food to reverse the decision to close Teagasc centres, particularly the centres in County Leitrim; (7) Deputy Crawford – the steps the Government is taking with regard to the removal of Teagasc advisory offices from rural areas such as the one in Bailieboro, County Cavan, thus forcing more farmers out of business by removing the advisory service from east Cavan to Ballyhaise; (8) Deputy Ellis – the request by Teagasc for sanction from the Department of Agriculture and Food to sell the Research Farm at Ballinamore, County Leitrim, and its offices at Manorhamilton, County Leitrim; (9) Deputy Allen – the imminent closure of the Teagasc office in Cork because of the effect it will have on the development of agriculture in Cork county and the displacement of the 14 staff working in the office; (10) Deputy Gilmore – the case of a couple (details supplied) who purchased their home on 14 November 2002 and who have been refused a first-time buyer's grant; (11) Deputy Stanton – to debate the cutbacks in Government funding to Teagasc, which has indirectly caused the closure of offices nation-wide, including the head office in Cork; the further implications this has for farming generally, especially in this time of intense change and great difficulty for farmers; (12) Deputy Coveney – the implications for Teagasc, the farm advisory service, of the Government cutbacks in its funding which have led to the closure of the head office in Cork and other offices nation-wide.
The matters raised by Deputies Healy, O'Dowd, O'Sullivan and Finian McGrath have been selected for discussion.