I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 20 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Lynch — the need to standardise hourly wage rates for home helps in all health board areas; (2) Deputy Shortall — the need to expand the preferential terms for the Telecom Phonewatch medi system to pensioners in urban areas; (3) Deputy Seán Ryan — the number of abscondments from Oberstown House, Lusk, County Dublin over the past year and the proposals, if any, there are for improving security for the centre in view of the concerns of the local residents; (4) Deputies Martin and Dermot Ahern — the reason for the delay in replying to correspondence received in October 1995, from parents of students at St. Mary's School, Dundalk, regarding the marking of 1995 leaving certificate examination papers; (5) Deputy Shatter — the need to conduct an urgent investigation into allegations that hundreds of Irish children were removed from the State for adoption abroad and that false birth certificates were obtained to facilitate such adoptions; (6) Deputy Keogh — the remit of the inquiry by Price Waterhouse into the marking of the 1995 leaving certificate examination, the concerns of parents and teachers in Dundalk at the results in English and the reassurance which can be given to students sitting the examinations in 1996; (7) Deputy Frances Fitzgerald — the implications for sports funding of recent events at the FAI; (8) Deputy Eric Byrne — the need for the necessary resources to be made available to obviate the need for water throttling and the necessity for an adequate and reliable water supply for all areas of Dublin; (9) Deputy Molloy — the steps being taken by the Minister for Health to ensure that the concerns of junior hospital doctors at University College Hospital, Galway, are dealt with expeditiously; (10) Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn — the need for the Minister for Health to intervene in the dispute by doctors at University College Hospital, Galway and (11) Deputy Séamus Brennan — the Telecom Éireann strategic alliance process following the withdrawal of British Telecom from the negotiations.
The matters raised by Deputies Molloy, Geoghegan-Quinn, Shatter and Martin and Dermot Ahern have been selected for discussion.