I wish to advise the House of the following matters of which notice has been given under Standing Order 21 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Coveney – to discuss the rise in the number of people affected by sexually transmitted diseases and what measures the Government is taking to tackle this problem; (2) Deputy Rabbitte – the reason the Minister for Education and Science is withholding permission to go to tender for a necessary school refurbishment project in Dublin 24, given that the required local contribution has been met, plans agreed and professional fees discharged; (3) Deputy Ring – the need to address the cost of public liability insurance for small employers; (4) Deputy U. Burke – the need for the Minister for Education and Science to give the go-ahead and provide funding for the construction of a new National School at Killimor, Ballinasloe, County Galway; (5) Deputy Browne (Wexford)– the closure of Wexford Electronix with the loss of almost 400 jobs and the need for adequate redundancy payments for the workers; (6) Deputy Howlin – the need to significantly improve entitlements of redundant workers under the Redundancy Payments Acts; (7) Deputy Spring – the serious and urgent need for the Minister for Health and Children to provide adequate speech therapy and psychological services for children with special needs residing in County Kerry; (8) Deputy T. Hayes – that the Minister for Education and Science make a commitment to ensuring that the urgently needed extension works will be carried out at Mount Bruis national school in Tipperary, due to overcrowded and cramped conditions in the existing school building; (9) Deputy Clune – the need to implement the recommendations of the report carried out by the Food Safety Promotion Board on the consumption of stimulant drinks; (10) Deputy Hogan – the need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to revoke his order on 11 March 2002 seeking to locate 290 asylum seekers and refugees on a green field site and adjacent to a residential area in Kilkenny without any public consultation or discussion with the local authority and calls on him to suspend work until such appropriate consultation under the planning acts is undertaken; (11) Deputy Crawford – to urge the Minister for Health and Children to intervene so that the 15p per mile already withdrawn from carers and home help in the North-Eastern Health Board be restored as a matter of urgency if this vital service is to be retained for the elderly and disabled; (12) Deputy Shatter – if it is planned to resubmit the contract to supply new helicopters to the Defence Forces to public tender and the cost to the State of the tendering process to date; (13) Deputy Durkan – the ongoing issue of the systematic appeals to An Bord Pleanála by An Taisce against decisions by local authorities to grant planning permission to indigenous rural residents for individuals houses, resulting inevitably in a reversal of the decision, the ultimate consequences of which will lead to serious depletion of the rural population; (14) Deputy Farrelly – if the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development is aware of the hardship caused to many farmers in regard to TB reactors purchased by his Department and not paid for due to the collapse of Henshaws Abbatoir in County Limerick, the immediate steps he is prepared to take to reimburse these farmers for the losses they have incurred because of this severe hardship; (15) Deputy McGuinness – the urgent need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to withdraw his order to allow temporary accommodation be provided on a site in Kilkenny for use by refugees/asylum seekers until such time as pro per consultation has taken place; (16) Deputy Stanton – to outline the steps the Tánaiste has taken or intends to take to keep the Youghal Carpets plant at Killacloyne in operation and to discuss her further plans to assist the workers.
The matters raised by Deputies Ring, Browne (Wexford), Howlin and Shatter have been selected for discussion.