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 Connaughton — the need to release the first instalment of all 1998 headage grants due to farmers by this weekend and to immediately open the area aid office for phone calls to enable farmers to discuss matters relating to their files; (2) Deputy Deenihan — the financial crisis facing many primary schools because of the lack of funding for heating, class materials, secretarial back-up, cleaning staff and other essential services; (3) Deputy Sargent — the need for the Minister for Agriculture and Food to immediately revoke measure 5 of the rural environment protection scheme to prevent the further destruction of hedgerows by farmers and agricultural contractors; (4) Deputy Fox — the need to discuss the ongoing TB problem in County Wicklow; (5) Deputy Boylan — the need to extend the free telephone rental allowance scheme to all persons with disabilities, regardless of the living alone condition in the scheme; (6) Deputy Durkan — the subject matter of Parliamentary Question No. 408 of 13 October 1998 regarding the withdrawal of free school transport for children attending Hewetsons school, Millicent, Clane, County Kildare; (7) Deputies Briscoe and Pat Carey — the crisis in music education in Dublin; (8) Deputy Shatter — the proposed ward closures and cutbacks in hospitals in the Midland Health Board area and the need for the Minister for Health and Children to take urgent action in this regard; (9) Deputy Fitzgerald — the crisis in child care and the difficulty in implementing the regulations in relation to inspecting nurseries; (10) Deputy Allen — the uncertainty regarding the construction of the national conference centre arising from the reluctance of the EU Commission to approve the urban renewal tax status for the Dublin dockland development; (11) Deputy Neville — the need for the Office of Public Works to increase the capacity to the down-stream river channel at Dromcollogher to avert serious flooding; and (12) Deputy Finucane —the need to change the status of the working principal to an administrative principal for a school (details supplied) in County Limerick.
The matters raised by Deputies Boylan, Allen, Deenihan and Briscoe and Pat Carey have been selected for discussion.