Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

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 Thomas Byrne - the position of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with regard to planning applications for one-off houses in the Brú na Boinne world heritage site area of the Meath East constituency; (2) Deputy Leo Varadkar - the plans to close the Castleknock Gate of the Phoenix Park, Dublin, for up to six weeks; (3) Deputy Tom Hayes - the future of the family resource centres in south Tipperary; (4) Deputy Joe McHugh - regarding the adoption of Vietnamese children by Irish couples, the need for the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Barry Andrews, to publicly clarify issues that are stalling efforts to develop a new bilateral agreement between Ireland and the Social Republic of Vietnam on adoption, to explain why Vietnam recently agreed to process 20 packs that were in Vietnam after the former bilateral agreement on adoption had lapsed and to indicate if he intends to force couples whose Vietnamese adoption application packs are with Helping Hands to renew their declarations and to re-enter the bureaucratic process or if he will extend their declarations as a gesture of goodwill; (5) Deputy Jan O'Sullivan - the need to allocate funding to the Limerick regeneration board; (6) Deputy Pat Rabbitte - the future of the jobs initiative scheme; (7) Deputy Lucinda Creighton - the office of a directly elected mayor of Dublin; (8) Deputy Bernard Allen - the bilateral agreement between Vietnam and Ireland and to discuss the talks that were planned for this month with Vietnamese officials; (9) Deputy Paul Connaughton - the proposed cessation of turfcutting on the 32 raised bogs across the country under the EU habitats directive to come into effect in December; (10) Deputy Chris Andrews - the ongoing dispute at Marine Terminals Limited; (11) Deputy Jack Wall - the recent ward closures at St. Vincent's Hospital, Athy, County Kildare; (12) Deputy Dan Neville - the need for additional medical cover to be put in place at the rehabilitation unit of St. Ita's Community Hospital, Newcastle West, County Limerick; and (13) Deputy Ciarán Lynch - the construction of a new primary school at Star of the Sea, Passage West, Cork.

The matters raised by Deputies Pat Rabbitte, Ciarán Lynch, Leo Varadkar and Jack Wall have been selected for discussion.

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