Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have received notice from Senator Catherine Noone that, on the motion for the Commencement of the House today, she proposes to raise the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to reinstate full funding to the local improvement scheme and community involvement scheme, encompassing funding for both private and public lanes.

I have also received notice from Senator Jennifer Murnane O'Connor of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Education and Skills to clarify the proposed new criteria for allocation of DEIS schools.

I have also received notice from Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to make a statement on the HSE's stance not to pay the workers providing homeless services in Galway and other areas, in view of the Labour Court’s recommended hourly rate for overnight working, that time spent on overnight, sleep-over duty should be acknowledged as constituting working time, and that workers should be paid the national minimum hourly rate of €9.25 for this duty.

I have also received notice from Senator Colm Burke of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to put in place a system which would enable parents to access respite care for a son or daughter who is residing with them but who is now over 18 years of age.

I have also received notice from Senator Terry Leyden of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to introduce new wind energy development guidelines on noise, proximity and shadow flicker as a matter of urgency.

I have also received notice from Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to intervene and ensure the HSE urgently advertises for a replacement paediatric endocrinologist at Sligo University Hospital to protect this specialist service for children in Donegal and the region and to outline his plans to address the ongoing crisis in diabetes care in Donegal.

I have also received notice from Senator Máire Devine of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to provide an update on the approval process for psychiatric centres abroad in which Irish children were placed in the past two years, in light of the Channel 4 "Dispatches" documentary, "Under Lock and Key".

I have also received notice from Senator Tim Lombard of the following matter:

The need for the Minster for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to make a statement regarding the success of the low cost loan scheme for farmers - the agriculture cashflow support loan scheme - and whether he plans to propose renewal of this scheme in the 2018 budget.

I have also received notice from Senator Frank Feighan of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to explore all options to extend the emergency aeromedical service based at Custume Barracks in Athlone to a night-time service.

I regard the matters raised by the Senators as suitable for discussion. I have selected Senators Noone, Murnane O’Connor, Ó Clochartaigh and Burke and they will be taken now. Senators Leyden, Mac Lochlainn, Devine, Lombard and Feighan may give notice on another day of the matters they wish to raise.