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 Durkan – the subject matter and reply thereto to Parliamentary Question No. 20952/03 of 30 September 2003; (2) Deputy Breeda Moynihan-Cronin – the cutbacks in child care provision for VTOS participants in County Kerry; (3) Deputy Ring – the need to restore funding to vocational education committees to allow VTOS course participants to avail of the childcare allowance; (4) Deputy Gilmore – the decision of the Minister of Education and Science to close St. Catherine's College of Home Economics, Sion Hill, Blackrock, County Dublin; (5) Deputy Burton – the crisis in accident and emergency services at James Connolly Memorial Hospital with patients being treated in the car park, while the €96 million new hospital block remains largely closed; (6) Deputy Michael Moynihan – the level of investment by Government Departments and State agencies on printing costs for glossy brochure-type publications and annual reports; (7) Deputy Finian McGrath – the crisis residential waiting list of 263 people with intellectual disabilities at St. Michael's House, Ballymun, Dublin 9; (8) Deputies Paul McGrath and Penrose – the failure of the Government to provide additional beds at the Longford/Westmeath Hospital in Mullingar, County Westmeath; (9) Deputy Eamon Ryan – the proposal by the Minister of Transport to defer the proposed upgrade of the suburban DART rail service until after the Christmas period and the financial and transport planning consequences of such a decision; the level of additional bus services that will be provided by Dublin Bus to cater for the additional weekend traffic following the closure of the DART services; and the apparent lack of co-ordination between the Minister's Department and Iarnród Éireann with regard to the DART works; (10) Deputy Twomey – if the proposed ban on smoking in the workplace will start on 1 January, 2004; and if it is intended to make any changes to the Tobacco Act; (11) Deputy Morgan – the need to ensure that the former US Navy ships known as the "toxic ghost fleet" will not under any circumstances be allowed to enter Irish territorial waters; (12) Deputy Ferris – the decision by the parents of 65 pupils attending Loughanure National School in west Donegal to withdraw their children from classes in protest at the inadequate condition of the school, including unsanitary toilets, high levels of radon gas and lack of space; (13) Deputy Crowe – the negligible reduction in hospital waiting lists across Dublin and in Tallaght in particular, as revealed in a survey by the Irish Patients' Association and the failure of the Government's health policy; (14) Deputy Gogarty – the need for the Minister for Health and Children to intervene to preserve the chest hospital at Peamount Hospital; (15) Deputy Sargent – that the Government ensure that the original proposal for a metro to serve the growing metropolis of Swords, capital of Fingal, proceed without further delay.
The matters raised by Deputies Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, Ring, Paul McGrath and Penrose and Twomey have been selected for discussion.