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 Deenihan – the necessity to carry out major repair work to Knockbrack National School, Knocknagoshel, County Kerry and if the Minister will make a statement on the matter; (2) Deputy Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny)– the urgent necessity to appoint personal assistants from September to a special school in Carlow (details supplied); (3) Deputy McGuinness – the urgent need to provide high capacity broadband infrastructure to each of the regions to assist in creating a positive profile for Ireland as the e-commerce hub of Europe; (4) Deputy Perry – the urgent need to ensure that a teaching position is not lost at Scoil Ursula National School, Strandhill Road, Sligo in view of the increase in numbers in the school catchment area; (5) Deputy Ellis – the question of the remedial work to be carried out at Cornagee National School, County Leitrim; (6) Deputy Sargent – the necessity for the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, noting the evidence that decisions to amend proposed SAC designated areas have been based on economic rather than scientific considerations, to investigate fully the complaints being made against Dúchas by several environmental NGOs and to ensure that scientific criteria only are considered in SAC designations and appeals; (7) Deputy Ring – the need for the Minister for Health and Children to confirm if the finalised published report on the development of services for symptomatic breast disease by the National Cancer Forum has become available; confirm if he has read it; confirm if it has been circulated to the chief executive officers of the health boards; confirm if he has made any recommendations either of refusal or acceptance of the report and make a full and detailed statement on this matter; (8) Deputy Ulick Burke – the need to concentrate efforts for the provision of resources and jobs to the mid-western region given the latest indication of job losses in the region and the need for a greater share to be directed to this region as a matter of urgency; (9) Deputy Connaughton – the subject matter of the issue of an export licence and subsequent staffing arrangements for a meat processing factory (details supplied); (10) Deputy Fitzgerald – the crisis in child care, the loss of 4,000 places and the urgent need for package of measures to deal with it; (11) Deputy Upton – the need to examine closely the developments in human genetics, with particular regard to the completion of work on the genome, with a view to ensuring that legislation will be prepared to guard against genetic discrimination; (12) Deputy Enright – whether the Minister for Health and Children has been in further communication with the Midland Health Board in regard to the death of a person (details supplied) who was directed in writing by his family doctor to be admitted to Portlaoise General Hospital on Sunday, 5 December 1999, and who attended the hospital while gravely ill, requiring both medication and oxygen while in hospital, and who was later sent home from hospital by ambulance and died at his home on 6 December 1999 at 3.00 a.m., if he has further investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of this patient and if the Midland Health Board has concluded its investigations and reported back to the Minister in this tragic case; (13) Deputy Sheehan – to ask the Minister for Finance to explain why he would not agree to pay the Millennium Centenarian Bounty of £2,000 each to the small number of people who had reached the 100 years plus on 1 January 2000; (14) Deputy Naughten – the need for the Government to provide funding for the raising of roads and the compensation for householders in County Roscommon following the severe flooding of the Shannon Basin last winter; (15) Deputy Ó Caoláin – the decision by FÁS not to renew contracts for community employment for some 450 people working in the schools sector in the north-eastern region comprising Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath and the resulting very serious situation for schools throughout the region and for those who have been employed as caretakers, cleaners, classroom assistants and secretarial assistants, and the need for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to ensure that these contracts are renewed forthwith; (16) Deputy Jim Higgins – the Garda report into the shooting dead of John Carthy at Abbeylara, County Longford; (17) Deputy Wall – the need for the Minister for Health and Children to outline the current position on facilities for people with constant post-operative pain and the plans for improving these facilities; (18) Deputy Stanton – the necessity for the Minister for Public Enterprise to initiate discussions with the relevant agencies to examine the need for and the feasibility of other means of constructing a high tension power line and pylons at East Cork.
The matters raised by Deputies Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny), McGuinness, Wall and Jim Higgins have been selected for discussion.