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 Gerry Reynolds – the need to provide the necessary capital funding for the building of two extra classrooms at Ransboro national school, County Sligo; (2) Deputy Broughan – the urgent need to introduce major measures to end the life threatening menace of joyriding on the northside of Dublin; (3) Deputy Farrelly – the need for the Minister for Education and Science to immediately appoint an ex-quota remedial teacher to St. Oliver's post primary school, Oldcastle, County Meath, taking into consideration the details which he has received from the school over the past two years; (4) Deputy O'Flynn – the need for the Minister for Enterprise and Employment to outline the steps, if any, that will be taken to provide alternative jobs for the staff affected by the announcement by Apple Computers to further reduce staff levels at its Cork plant; (5) Deputy Shatter – the need to discuss the proposal of the Minister for Health and Education to transfer the haemotology unit of the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, and his refusal to meet concerned parents of paediatric leukaemia patients currently undergoing treatment; (6) Deputy Creed – the urgent need for the Department of Education and Science to sanction the proposed extension to St. Mary's secondary school, Macroom; (7) Deputy Jim Higgins – the need to discuss the closure of the All-Fresh Bakery in Charlestown, County Mayo, with the loss of 100 jobs, to explore the possibility of keeping the enterprise operating as a going concern and other job creating initiatives for the job-starved area; (8) Deputy Owen – the need to discuss the issue of industrial action being taken by 700 staff, employed by Forfás Enterprise Ireland, the efforts being made by the Minister to resolve the situation, the need for industrial relations mechanisms and the risks to Ireland's efforts to encourage inward investment as a result of the Minister's failure to have all these staff problems resolved; (9) Deputy Boylan – the urgent need for financial assistance for small to medium sized family pig farms; (10) Deputy Allen – the need to discuss the imminent closure of the i-Mac manufacturing unit at the Apple Computer plant, Cork, with a loss of 450 jobs; (11) Deputy Timmins – the need to discuss the proposed cutbacks in the Defence Forces; (12) Deputy McGennis – the need for the Minister for Education and Science to investigate the reports that files relating to people placed in the industrial school system by the ISPCC, and its predecessor the NSPCC, may have been destroyed; (13) Deputy Hayes – the need for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to address the fact that more than 80 per cent of landlords who operate within the private rented sector have yet to register with their local authority; (15) Deputy O'Sullivan – the urgent need to take new and proactive measures to ensure greater equality for women in the Irish workforce following 25 years of employment equality legislation; (15) Deputy Sheehan – the need to discuss the serious position whereby all EC payments such as early retirement pensions, REP scheme payments and all other EC payments are reduced by 5.055 per cent since 1 January last and the steps being taken to combat this serious situation appertaining to the farming community; (16) Deputy Deenihan – the need to discuss the inconvenience and hardship being experienced by many Kerry mothers who are forced to travel to hospitals outside of the county to give birth because of the lack of an adequate epidural service at Tralee General Hospital, County Kerry.
The matters raised by Deputies Jim Higgins, Owen, Boylan and O'Sullivan have been selected for discussion.