I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh - a number of group water schemes in County Mayo are waiting for Irish Water to take them over. Due to the ageing piping infrastructure, continuous leaks are causing debt to escalate on these schemes. I ask the Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government to outline the measures Irish Water is taking to take control of these schemes in County Mayo and elsewhere in rural Ireland; (2) Deputy Niamh Smyth - to discuss procedures for children’s school absences of more than 20 days due to Covid-19; (3) Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill - to discuss the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, following the opening of public consultation last week; (4) Deputy Brian Stanley - to discuss with the Minister for Health the lack of dental services for children and the current difficulties with the dental treatment services scheme in counties Laois and Offaly; (5) Deputy David Stanton - to ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to discuss the need to support and encourage schools to make their facilities available to local community and youth groups and organisations outside of school hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter; (6) Deputy Claire Kerrane - to discuss with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and the Department of Health the staffing of the new e-mental health hub in Castlerea, County Roscommon; (7) Deputy Dessie Ellis - to discuss the urgent need for extra Garda resources to be put into Finglas to combat the escalation in drug- and gang-related violence; (8) Deputy Catherine Connolly - the severe reduction in respite beds from 25 pre-Covid to two post-Covid in Galway city and county; (9) Deputies Michael Collins, Danny Healy-Rae and Christopher O'Sullivan - to discuss the lack of connectivity from Dursey Island to the mainland; (10) Deputies Ruairí Ó Murchú and David Cullinane - to discuss the imminent difficulties for healthcare workers selected by the RCSI hospital group for a nursing training programme run by Hibernia College where it has still not been agreed whether these workers will be funded to take up the course on 1 March, despite funding promises being made. The course would train healthcare workers to be nurses at a time when there are serious retention and staffing issues in hospitals; (11) Deputy Marc MacSharry - that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media immediately directs Fáilte Ireland to maintain a regional tourism office in the gateway city of Sligo and reverse plans to replace manned offices nationwide with automated tourism information points alone; and if she will make a statement on the matter; (12) Deputy Matt Carthy - to ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress made on the implementation of the working paper to address challenges related to peat supply; (13) Deputy Chris Andrews - to ask the Minister for Justice to address the growing public safety concerns in Dublin’s inner city; to outline what strategies are in places to restore public confidence in the safety of the inner city; and to make a statement on the matter; (14) Deputy Maurice Quinlivan - to ask the Minister for Health for an update on progress that has been made to address the overcrowding issues at numerous Irish hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter; (15) Deputy Thomas Gould - to discuss the need for a disability officer on Cork City Council and the need for local authorities to undertake accessibility impact reports in advance of all public space planning; (16) Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire - to discuss the significant delay in getting the children’s disability network teams in Cork up and running, and the subsequent delays for children accessing assessments and therapies; (17) Deputy Mairéad Farrell - to ask the Minister for Health for an update on progress that has been made to address the overcrowding issues at hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter; and (18) Deputy Brendan Griffin - to discuss funding for the south Kerry greenway following the recent positive Supreme Court ruling.
The matters raised by Deputy Conway-Walsh; Deputies Michael Collins, Danny Healy-Rae and Christopher O'Sullivan; and Deputy MacSharry have been selected for discussion.