Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, 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 27A and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Nicky McFadden - the emergency department in the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar ; (2) Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn - the impact on community safety of the proposed closure of more than 200 Garda stations, particularly in smaller rural communities such as County Donegal which may lose up to 24 Garda stations according to media reports; (3) Deputy James Bannon - the need for the Minister for Education and Skills to give urgent consideration to designating Longford as the headquarters of the County Longford and County Westmeath amalgamated VECs in light of its prime location and the significant capital investment by the Department of Education and Skills in VEC infrastructure in Longford over the past two years; (4) Deputy Catherine Murphy - the notification by the HSE that it will not fund the operation of the only centre specialising in domestic violence in Kildare, Teach Tearmainn. The new purpose-built centre was funded by the HSE and caters for the whole of County Kildare which is now the fourth most populated county with 209,000. There is a particularly young demographic. This decision comes at a time when refuges in Ireland generally are experiencing a huge increase in the demand for their services. To have a building that could provide a measure of safety to women and children and not be in beneficial use can surely not be justified as a good use of the millions it cost to build; (5) Deputies Joan Collins, Clare Daly and Richard Boyd Barrett - the future of the Rowan ward at Cherry Orchard Hospital, Dublin; (6) Deputy Derek Keating - the urgent and serious situation of public transport in Dublin city and the decision by Dublin Bus to alter many services without notice or consultation which is affecting up to 500,000 users. This non-consultative practice has been engaged in by Dublin Bus which is funded by the Exchequer to provide a public service and is responsible for providing a city wide service from, for example, Rathcoole to the Irish Financial Services Centre, Lucan to UCD and Clondalkin to O'Connell Street. Recently Dublin Bus has initiated bus timetable changes, re-routing of services and the cutting of a number of services without any consultation with the customers who rely on such a service to get to work, the city, hospitals and important appointments. I also want to raise under the topical issue debate the practice of Dublin Bus reducing its services after 10am where some routes have no service for 40 minutes or an hour, yet the company is in receipt of large sums of public funds from the Department of Social Protection to meet the free travel and disability travel permits which it does not audit when assessing the activity of a service to and from the city; (7) Deputy Eoghan Murphy - ministerial plans to pursue disarmament and non-proliferation in the coming year; (8) Deputy Noel Harrington - the -position with regard to tier 1 international connectivity. A new Hibernia express cable is being laid from the UK to the USA with the potential to insert a branching unit into the southern part of the country through Cork. A limited window of opportunity exists, with a decision needing to be taken before 30 September 2011, as once the UK–USA cable is laid, the branching unit cannot be inserted once in service. The benefits would include protecting current industry and promoting job creation. Tier 1 international connectivity in the southern part of the country would present all regional hubs along the Atlantic corridor and the south west as serious candidate locations as a European headquarters for data-centric companies, Internet players and financial services organisations, or back-up locations for their presence in other European locations, while at the same time protecting and promoting the competitiveness of indigenous and multinational industry in regional Ireland. A lot of progress has been made in recent weeks to advance the prospects of the new tier 1 connector via the Hibernia Atlantic new cable which would significantly enhance connectivity, improve latency and reduce telecommunication costs along the Atlantic corridor and the south. The Cork Chamber of Commerce and its members fully support this project given the significant opportunity it presents to Ireland. I ask that this matter be considered as a matter of urgency, urge the Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources to give his full support to this project and call on the Minister to outline his views on this project and state the support he intends to give to it; (9) Deputy Thomas Pringle - the need to restore the exceptional needs payment for applicants for social housing who are offered accommodation in properties secured under long-term leasing arrangements by local authorities; (10) Deputy Seán Conlan - the HSE proposal to reduce the opening hours of the minor injuries unit at Monaghan Hospital; (11) Deputy Dessie Ellis - the plans to transfer the role of administering rent supplement from welfare officers to local authorities; (12) Deputy Joe Costello - the need to ensure no family loses their home owing to inability to pay their mortgage; and (13) Deputy Brendan Smith - the need to engage Aviva and IDA Ireland to protect as many jobs as possible.

The matters raised by Deputies Eoghan Murphy, Brendan Smith, Joe Costello and Joan Collins, Clare Daly and Richard Boyd Barrett have been selected for discussion.