Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I have received notice from Senator Máire Devine that, on the motion for the Commencement of the House today, she proposes to raise the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to clarify progress to date on the recruitment of an oncologist with a special interest in sarcoma, based at St. Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin.

I have also received notice from Senator Gabrielle McFadden of the following matter:

The need for the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to review the current operation of the Garda vetting legislation, whereby an applicant approved by Garda vetting can have the clearance attached to the person for a fixed period of time, to avoid the need to make a number of applications for different organisations with which he or she may be involved.

I have also received notice from Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee of the following matter:

The need for the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to reopen Rush Garda station in County Dublin.

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

The need for the Minister for Education and Skills to make a statement regarding the status of the building projects at Ballinspittle national school, County Cork; and when is it proposed to make a site visit to progress this building schedule.

I have also received notice from Senator Gerard P. Craughwell of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to make funding immediately available to ensure that local authorities in Border counties can establish European affairs strategic policy committees to address their unique Brexit issues.

I have also received notice from Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Education and Skills to provide assurances that additional funding will be available, if needed, to retain all existing courses at the Castlebar campus of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.

I have also received notice from Senator Rónán Mullen of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to confirm that certain restrictive terms in a contract between Sicín Co-operative Society and its growers are required by the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme and whether her Department will seek to mediate a dispute between a former chicken grower (details supplied) and Manor Farm-Carton Brothers Limited where that dispute has arisen from the refusal of the grower to take part in certain VAT-avoidance arrangements.

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

The need for the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people to outline the timescale as to when works will start on a new 50-bed unit on the Sacred Heart home site in Roscommon town following the announcement of capital funding for the project last year.

I have also received notice from Senator Paul Gavan of the following matter:

The need for the Minister for Health to discuss what actions he is taking to address the serious and ongoing decline of health services in County Clare, with particular reference to the drastic curtailment of Shannondoc services throughout the county.

I regard the matters raised by Senators Devine, McFadden, Clifford-Lee, Lombard, Craughwell, Ó Domhnaill, Feighan and Gavan as suitable for discussion. I have selected the matters raised by Senators Devine, McFadden, Clifford-Lee and Lombard and they will be taken now.

I regret I have had to rule out of order the matter raised by Senator Mullen on the grounds that the Minister has no official responsibility in this matter.

Senators Craughwell, Ó Domhnaill, Feighan and Gavan may give notice on another day of the matters that they wish to raise.

The speaking time for Members to put their case on the Commencement is four minutes and the Minister or Minister of State usually has four minutes to reply. It is at my discretion to allow supplementary questions. In recent times, the question and answer sometimes have taken 14 or 15 minutes, thereby putting pressure on others to comply. I am not particularly warning anyone here but it is getting a bit out of hand.