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 Michael Moynihan — the proposed renovation plan and future developments of the CBS secondary school, Charleville; (2) Deputy Michael Higgins — the importance of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, making such an intervention as will enable the residential beds at the Galway Hospice to be reopened and such reports as have been prepared in this regard to be made available to the public; (3) Deputy Crawford — to ask the Minister for Health and Children if he agrees it is fair and just for persons (details supplied) to be refused financial assistance from their health board towards the cost of transport to vital hospital appointments when there is no public service available and they are depending on social welfare; (4) Deputy Ring — to ask the Minister for Health and Children to instruct the Western Health Board to appoint a medical officer to oversee and reopen the hospice beds in the Sacred Heart Hospital, Castlebar, County Mayo, which are closed at present; (5) Deputy Hayes — to ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, if he is aware of the difficulty experienced by aspiring job applicants, especially in the education and social care areas, in obtaining character clearance certificates at local Garda Síochána level and if he will indicate what measures he proposes to introduce to resolve this most unsatisfactory situation; (6) Deputy O'Sullivan — the need for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, to suspend his intended renegotiation of the bilateral aviation agreements with the US Government; (7) Deputy Pat Breen — the abandonment of Shannon Airport by the Government and the failure to put forward a special case for Shannon to the US-EU authorities on the current bilateral negotiations; (8) Deputy Ferris — the ongoing jobs crisis in County Kerry; (9) Deputy Lynch — the need for the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Coughlan, to review the restrictions on rent allowance which came into operation at the beginning of this month in view of the hardship being created for vulnerable people and the serious concerns expressed by community welfare officers; (10) Deputies Eamon Ryan and Cuffe — to call on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, to explain the reasons for his unprecedented intervention to instruct Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to rezone additional green belt land for housing as part of its new development plan.
The matters raised by Deputies Ferris, Moynihan, O'Sullivan and Pat Breen have been selected for discussion.