Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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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 Joe McHugh — if the Minister will outline the Government's commitment to decentralisation throughout rural Ireland; the Minister's commitment to retaining existing State jobs in peripheral locations and his commitment to providing additional jobs in these locations; (2) Deputy Olivia Mitchell — the imminent demise of the Feis Ceoil in the absence of a sponsor and the need for Government support to secure its future; (3) Deputy James Bannon — the need to outline what if any, plans are in place, for a cohesive policy to expedite the development of slurry generated electricity; (4) Deputy Deirdre Clune — the need to ensure the regeneration of the Cork docklands area is facilitated through tax incentives; (5) Deputy Leo Varadkar — noting the local electoral boundaries have not been reviewed since 1998 and noting the massive development that has occurred in many suburban areas and county towns in the interregnum, calls on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to appoint a boundary commission to redraw the local electoral boundaries in advance of the 2009 local elections; (6) Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin — the need to provide additional beds, isolation units and single rooms to combat the continuing spread of infections in hospitals; (7) Deputy Tom McEllistrim — that funding be provided to the Kerry network of people with disabilities to employ a project co-ordinator; (8) Deputy Ulick Burke — to indicate the reasons for the delay in publishing the conditions and guidelines for the implementation of the mid-Shannon tax incentive scheme announced in the 2006 budget; (9) Deputy Liz McManus — the need to ensure a full-time fire brigade in Bray, County Wicklow; (10) Deputy Simon Coveney — to outline progress in the approval for long promised and much needed refurbishment works at St. Angela's school, St. Patrick's Hill, Cork; (11) Deputy Pat Breen — that the Government's commitments in the State Airports Bill 2004 will be delivered; (12) Deputy Mary O'Rourke — if the Minister will outline fully all the arrangements being put in place for women from counties Longford and Westmeath who previously had been treated in Mullingar and who are now being told to present themselves to the Mater Hospital in Dublin; (13) Deputy Tom Hayes — whether the tax rebate system for diesel costs for scheduled bus services will be revoked as per a planned EU directive and if so, how long has the Government known about this directive; and if so, if an alternative system of funding will be set in place and what form it will take; and if the Minister can make a statement on forthcoming plans for this; and (14) Deputy O'Dowd — with reference to the letter from the Taoiseach to the Deputy, dated 8 November, to ask the Taoiseach to state to whom his Department first disseminated the summary of radio and television news and newspaper headlines on the Shannon-Belfast-Heathrow controversy and the date of same and to ask the Taoiseach to make a statement on the matter.

The matters raised by Deputies Ó Caoláin, Breen, McEllistrim and McManus have been selected for discussion.