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 Gogarty – the need to reintroduce money back bottles and money back cans to reduce litter and, therefore, assist the promotion of Ireland as a clean tourism destination; (2) Deputy Quinn – the decision to split the functions of Dúchas and to re-assign them between the Department of the Environment and Local Government and the Office of Public Works; (3) Deputy Costello – the need for the Minister for Finance to provide funding for the interim public works programme that has been drawn up to prevent flooding of the Tolka River in Dublin, to ensure that the works programme is carried out in 2003, and to host a meeting between the Tolka River Residents Association, Dublin City Council and the insurance industry to ensure that home insurance cover continues to be provided at a reasonable cost; (4) Deputy Pat Breen – the need for the Minister for Education and Science to address as a matter of urgency the communication problem between the Department and Clare VEC regarding St. Michael's community college, Kilmihil, County Clare, and that priority be given to the college as a matter of urgency under health and safety legislation; (5) Deputy Hayes – the need to address the serious jobs crisis in Tipperary, the urgent need to attract industry to the area and the urgency of providing a replacement industry following the closure of PALL; (6) Deputy Donal Moynihan – the hardship caused to pupils and staff of St. Colman's boys national school, Macroom, County Cork, and St. Joseph's primary school, Macroom, County Cork, due to the decision to terminate posts allocated under the Giving Children an Even Break scheme; (7) Deputy McManus – the grave concern at the fact that, for the first time since 1941, there will be no grand opera produced in Dublin by an Irish company this year because of funding cutbacks; (8) Deputy Neville – the industrial dispute of the public health doctors; (9) Deputy Crawford – to ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food what steps, if any, he is taking to settle the ongoing dispute at his Department, which is to escalate next week, which will, in turn, disrupt the trading in animals, further delay the overdue payments to farmers and cause chaos and long-term damage to what is still our biggest industry; (10) Deputy Breda Moynihan-Cronin – the decision to close 30 beds and reduce out-patient services at Tralee General Hospital for the summer months; (11) Deputy Eamon Ryan – the need to clarify the Government's position with regard to the future of Moneypoint power station; (12) Deputy Ring – to ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to outline the Government's policy regarding the retention of postal delivery services and postmen in rural communities; (13) Deputy Cooper-Flynn – to ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources why, when Government policy supports the development of rural communities in the recently published national spatial policy, we allow An Post, a company in which the Government is the major shareholder, to make a decision to remove a postman from Lahardane post office with obvious consequences for the local community when there is no significant economic reason for doing so and when such a decision clearly goes against stated Government policy; (14) Deputy Carty – to ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to outline Government policy regarding the retention of postmen in rural communities; (15) Deputy Cowley – to ask the Minister if he would intervene in the situation at Laherdane post office, County Mayo, and make contact with Mr. John Hynes of An Post to retain the Laherdane-based postman, a service which has been employed for the past 150 years, and as the population has increased with an expected further 200 houses and new sewerage scheme just commenced, to ask him whether he has urged An Post to retain the Laherdane-based postman for the people of Laherdane, as it is an essential service and part of the essential infrastructure of the area.
The matters raised by Deputies Hayes, Eamon Ryan, Moynihan and Quinn have been selected for discussion and will be taken at the conclusion of business.