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 Creed – the proposed extension to St. Mary's secondary school, Macroom; (2) Deputy Ring – the progress made by the working group on abuse of the elderly; (3) Deputy Seán Ryan – the urgent need for additional gardaí and resources for Swords, Balbriggan and Malahide Garda stations; (4) Deputy Ulick Burke – the urgent need to review the criteria for entrance to community employment schemes; (5) Deputy Keaveney – the need to take action to tackle the unemployment problem in the north-west region in view of the recent announcement of another closure at Fruit of the Loom; (6) Deputy Coveney – the need to set up an independent living fund for those with disabilities who are reliant on personal assistants for a quality of life; (7) Deputy Barrett – the need to amend the disabled person's grant scheme so as to allow greater flexibility to local authorities in administering the scheme; (8) Deputy Crawford – the urgent need for the Minister for Health and Children to intervene to stop the closure of the maternity unit at Monaghan General Hospital and to guarantee the restructuring and upgrading of Monaghan General Hospital; (9) Deputy Howlin – the implications for public confidence in the Garda and the criminal justice system of the decision of the state not to contest an appeal in the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday taken by a Donegal publican who had spent three years in jail after being convicted of knowingly allowing drugs to be sold in his premises; (10) Deputy O'Shea – the need for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to ensure that as many jobs as possible are saved at Tech Industries in Waterford and that a ministerial task force to deal with the overall situation is urgently put in place as requested by SIPTU; (11) Deputy Kenny – the matter of the powers of the Minister for Health and Children under the Health Act, 1970, in so far as the powers of health boards and their members are concerned in regard to their function and powers to provide services for the people under the said Health Act, 1970; (12) Deputy McGinley – the failure of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to provide the funding to complete renovation works on Doe Castle, County Donegal; (13) Deputy Neville – the need to restrict Paracetamol products to pharmacies; (14) Deputy Upton – the need to outline the action being taken at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to ensure that all aspects of the EU agreement reached on the control of BSE are implemented without delay; (15) Deputy Wall – the need for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to provide funding for the south Kildare region water scheme given the problems that many people are experiencing in the area at present.
The matters raised by Deputies O'Shea, Upton, Ring and Barrett have been selected for discussion.