I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 27A and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Tony McLoughlin — the need to stimulate job creation measures in the Carrick-on-Shannon area in view of the imminent shedding of jobs at Bank of America; (2) Deputy Joe McHugh — the closure this autumn of the Irish Post newspaper, which has maintained a link between this island and its 19,000 Irish readers in Britain and between the various Irish groups in Britain; (3) Deputy Robert Troy — to ask the Minister for Health to outline clearly his future proposals for the existing services at the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar; (4) Deputy Michael Lowry — the decision to close 22 beds in the Community Hospital of the Assumption, Thurles, and six beds in the Dean Maxwell community nursing unit, Roscrea; (5) Deputy Michael McCarthy — the need to discuss ambulance service cover in the west Cork area, in particular the intention to reduce ambulance services in Skibbereen, the second busiest and occasionally the busiest 999 ambulance station in west Cork, second only to Clonakilty, by withdrawing the ambulance from Skibbereen to Castletownbere from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. and replacing it with a response car which has no patient carrying capability and will be manned by only one paramedic, which would have severe implications and consequences for the west Cork area and which has many local people genuinely fearing that lives will be put at risk; (6) Deputy Mattie McGrath — the proposed closure of St. Michael’s unit; (7) Deputy Patrick O’Donovan — the need for the HSE to re-examine the decision to close respite beds in St. Ita’s Community Hospital, Newcastle West, and St. Camillus’s Hospital, Limerick; (8) Deputy Tom Hayes — the need for the Minister for Health to outline the impact the closure of St. Michael’s psychiatric unit in Clonmel will have on south Tipperary and the health service as a whole in the constituency; (9) Deputy Michael Healy-Rae — to seek from the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, with regard to the closing down of Meitheal Forbaithe na Gaeltachta, an assurance that he will ensure that local development companies will administer grants at a local level where Meitheal Forbaithe na Gaeltachta left off, given that the most important part of local development is the word “local” and while the demise of Meitheal Forbaithe na Gaeltachta is regrettable, it is not the title “Meitheal Forbaithe na Gaeltachta” that made it local but the workforce on the ground delivering the programmes and the services that make it a success, and given also that the most important issue is to maintain the local input to the delivery of both the programmes, whether they are Leader or social inclusion programmes; (10) Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn — to discuss the impact on community safety of the proposed closure of more than 200 Garda stations, particularly in smaller rural communities such as County Donegal which may lose up to 24 Garda stations according to media reports; (11) Deputy Michelle Mulherin — the impact of the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 and whether compensation will be paid to farmers; (12) Deputy Thomas P. Broughan — the need to secure the safety of residents at Priory Hall, Clongriffin, Dublin 13; (13) Deputy Dessie Ellis — the pyrite problems facing many home owners and renters; (14) Deputy Catherine Murphy — the level of qualifications of those teaching mathematics and science; (15) Deputy Michael McNamara — health care issues in County Clare, in particular, Raheen Hospital; (16) Deputy Dan Neville — the increase by 4% to 11,966 presentations to hospital due to deliberate self-harm nationally; (17) Deputy Jerry Buttimer — the roll-out of real time passenger information for bus users outside Dublin; (18) Deputies Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Mick Wallace — the need to deal with leakages in the water system, particularly in view of the proposed imposition of water charges; and (19) Deputy Timmy Dooley — the matter of respite beds in Raheen community hospital.
The matters raised by Deputies Catherine Murphy, Michelle Mulherin, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Mick Wallace, and Thomas P. Broughan have been selected for discussion.