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 Finian McGrath – the growing impact of Government cuts on people with disabilities and the need for rights based legislation; (2) Deputy Pat Breen – the need to resist attempts by the European Commission to change the current bilateral agreement between the US and Ireland; (3) Deputy Crowe – the need to urgently address the legitimate concerns of human rights activists at the prejudicial statements made by senior Colombian military, judicial and political figures relating to the trial of three Irishmen (details supplied); (4) Deputy Donal Moynihan – to discuss the extreme hardship caused to pupils and staff of St. Coleman's boys national school, Macroom, County Cork, and St. Joseph's primary school, Macroom, County Cork, due to the decision of the Department to terminate posts allocated under the Giving Children an Even Break scheme. In regard to the applications made by these two schools under this disadvantaged programme to outline: (a) the process of appeal and if the up-to-date information supplied by these two schools was reviewed by the ERC; and (b) details of the scoring system used – the method of calculation of the points for inclusion and the cut-off points for inclusion in the scheme; (5) Deputy Harkin – to review the Social Welfare (Consolidated Supplementary Welfare Allowance) (Amendment) No. 1 Regulation 2002 which has had the effect of ensuring that many persons who are entitled to rent allowance are unable to access it when renting private accommodation in particular because of the insertion of the sub-article "a rent supplement shall not be payable where the amount of rent exceeds the appropriate maximum amount of rent as determined under paragraph (g) of sub-article (2)."; (6) Deputy O'Dowd – to ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to discuss the funding crisis in area partnerships and community groups funded through ADML; (7) Deputy Morgan – the need for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to address the findings contained in the report of the Health Research Board into adverse effects of landfill and incineration that found, first, the lack of compliance of existing incinerators with current emission regulations, second, that the EPA does not have facilities to monitor emissions and, third, the appalling record of incinerator operators who completely fail to maintain dioxin emission levels within permitted limits and the need to prohibit the development of this dirty industry in Ireland; (8) Deputy Neville – the Amnesty International report, Mental Illness, The Neglected Quarter; (9) Deputy Seán Ryan – the major implications of the severe cutbacks in the funding for Prosper Fingal; and (10) Deputy Costello – the need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to order an inquiry into the manner in which the Garda handled a peaceful demonstration outside Leinster House last night.
The matters raised by Deputies Crowe, Seán Ryan, Neville and Costello have been selected for discussion.