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 Naughten – the need to provide classroom assistants to children with special needs in mainstream education; (2) Deputy Crowe – the decision of the Minister for Education and Science to cut child care support for students on VTO schemes and the implications this has for access to education for young parents from disadvantaged areas; (3) Deputy Burton – the crisis in accident and emergency services at James Connolly Memorial Hospital where patients are being treated in the car park, while the €96 million new hospital block remains largely closed; (4) Deputy Crawford – when Monaghan General Hospital will be brought back on call to give a full service to the community; (5) Deputy O'Sullivan – the proposed audit of special needs resources in primary schools and the concerns that this will lead to cutbacks in the service; (6) Deputy Seán Ryan – the request from parents of second level students in Donabate-Portrane, County Dublin, for a bus service to the post-primary schools in Malahide-Portmarnock and Baldoyle, County Dublin; (7) Deputy Stanton – to ask the Minister for Education and Science to discuss the urgent need to make provision for a new school of music building in Cork and if will he make a statement on the matter.
The matters raised by Deputies Naughten, O'Sullivan, Seán Ryan and Crawford have been selected for discussion. As the first two items are being taken together, each Deputy has five minutes and the Minister has ten minutes to reply.