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 Mattie McGrath - proposed amendments to the Valuation Act 2001; (2) Deputy Ulick Burke - the urgent need for the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Mary Coughlan to indicate when St. Catherine's national school, Aughrim, County Galway will be given the go ahead for the construction of a new school given that the classroom sizes are one third the size of the regular classrooms in other national schools and there is now a very serious health and safety issue arising from over crowding and a lack of other appropriate facilities; (3) Deputy Kieran O'Donnell - the need for the Minister for Health and Children to retain the existing levels of service at Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, County Limerick; (4) Deputy Joanna Tuffy - the need for the Minister for Education and Skills to maintain community employment schemes and job initiative schemes in Clondalkin and for the Minister to make a statement on the matter; (5) Deputy Frank Feighan - the need for the Minister for Education and Skills to explore the possibility of providing a third level education college for Carrick-on-Shannon given it is now a regional town; (6) Deputy Martin Ferris - the need to discuss the delays in granting a foreshore licence for the Shannon LNG project in North Kerry; (7) Deputy P. J. Sheehan - the proposed extension for Kinsale Community School; (8) Deputy Joe McHugh - the proposal to upgrade the N14 19km route from Lifford to Letterkenny to Type 2 dual carriageway, the amount of money invested to date by the State in feasibility studies and associated costs for this proposal, to explain why the proposal was removed from the programme for Government and if the Government plans in the short term to upgrade to the road and to outline these plans; (9) Deputy James Bannon - the need for the Minister for Justice and Law Reform to ensure that a person who is severely brain damaged following a car accident and requires urgent treatment will be transferred to the care of the Department of Health and Children; (10) Deputy Thomas P. Broughan - the need for the Minister for Justice and Law Reform to report to Dáil Éireann on whether he is considering changing the law in relation to the illegal occupation of property in particular where clear offers of accommodation have been made to the illegal occupiers and if he is considering any other measures to address the security, environmental and other impacts of an illegal occupation; if the Minister is aware of the illegal occupation of development lands in a location (details supplied) that is causing serious distress to local residents and householders, many of whom are paying large mortgages and if he will make a statement on the matter; (11) Deputy Kathleen Lynch - to discuss the proposed move of the prosthetic clinic from St. Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital, Cork to the MUH, Cork; (12) Deputy Deirdre Clune - the need to address the concerns surrounding the use of State funding provided to a charity, Right of Place, established to support victims of institutional abuse; (13) Deputy Seán Barrett - marriages of convenience; (14) Deputy Michael McGrath - that the Department of Education and Skills confirm the position regarding the appointment of a building contractor and the commencement of construction work on the new school building for Ballygarvan national school, County Cork; (15) Deputy Ciarán Lynch - to ask the Minister to debate the measures being examined by Government to deal with difficulties in relation to defined benefit pensions; the implications of the requirement for stressed pension funds to submit recovery plans to the Irish Pension Board arising from the November deadline and the consideration given by Government to the establishment of a sovereign annuity bond system as proposed by the Society of Actuaries and the Irish Association of Pension Funds; (16) Deputy Denis Naughten - the need for the Minister for Justice and Law Reform to expedite Garda clearance for FÁS CE participants working with elderly health care services; and (17) Deputy Simon Coveney - the viability of and funding available to regional airports.

The matters raised by Deputies P. J. Sheehan, Mattie McGrath, Simon Coveney and Seán Barrett have been selected for discussion.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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On a point of order, I submitted a private notice question on the up to date position on passport abuse. I have not yet heard if that question will proceed. This is a matter of grave urgency.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The integrity of Irish passports is being brought into disrepute-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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-----as a result of the ongoing failure on our part to guarantee security of a passport. The UK has dealt with this matter by way of other arrangements.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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We appear to have learned no lessons from the Dubai affair. Perhaps the Ceann Comhairle will say if there is a justifiable reason for refusal of this private notice question, given the gravity of the situation?

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy submitted a parliamentary question on the matter for today.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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It is way down on the list.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Had the Deputy submitted the question as a priority question it would have been dealt with in that context.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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My difficulty was that the time for submission of priority questions had elapsed. I do not know of any other way I can raise this issue.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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I am not in any way diminishing the importance of the issue.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Will the Ceann Comhairle reconsider the matter for tomorrow, given the circumstances?