71 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she is taking to guard agriculture here against the possibility of foot and mouth disease entering here through infected meat from Argentina; and if she will support an immediate ban on food imports from that country.
[5978/06]
65 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the measures she intends to take to halt the decline in young farmers coming to the farming industry; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[5979/06]
636 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the involvement his Department had in the establishment of a meeting between representatives of Shell, Statoil and Marathon Ireland with the chairman of An Bord Pleanála in September 2003; and if the desirability of such a meeting was discussed at a meeting with executives of Shell on 19 September 2003.
[5431/06]
430 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport the legislative grounds on which local authorities designate the speed limit of local areas; the involvement his Department has in this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[4973/06]
218 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the legislation which is in place to facilitate the investigation by local authorities into complaints regarding noise pollution emanating from private residences.
[4783/06]
18 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the take-up rate of the school meals programme operated by his Department; and if he intends to offer more incentives to increase take-up levels.
[4686/06]
32 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on whether the use of supplementary rent allowance continues to be effective in view of the criticisms raised in Focus Ireland’s five-year strategy regarding shortcomings in homelessness preventive measures, especially among key vulnerable groups.
[4687/06]
278 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to plans to provide a bus route along the R112 road in south Dublin linking both Luas lines with the DART and the 16A airport bus; and if the provision of such a route can be facilitated.
[4564/06]
245 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when growers will know whether or not they will be entitled to excise relief on their crop due to the fact that liquid biofuel crops have been sown in the spring.
[4599/06]
244 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if, in view of his announcement of €20 million excise relief on biofuels for 2006 the date by which this excise relief will be granted to biofuel producers on foot of this announcement.
[4598/06]
243 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if, following provision for excise relief on biofuels in the Finance Act 2004, it was not until August 2005 that any excise relief on biofuels was granted to a small number of biofuel producers; the reason this administrative task took 17 months; and his views on whether such a delay is acceptable.
[4597/06]
155 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if the 506 rural social scheme participant places, which remained available here at the end of 2005, have been filled.
[4343/06]
154 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he intends to strengthen the campaign against the use of cocaine following the recent findings of the all Ireland drug prevalence survey, which showed that 3% of people here have used cocaine at some stage of their lives.
[4344/06]
317 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he intends to seek a change to Ireland’s approach to the seven-year transition period for labour mobility as agreed under the accession treaties.
[4407/06]
316 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position his Department has taken in EU discussions on the services directive; the timetable for the approval of the directive at the Council of Ministers; and if he will make public in advance the Government’s position on amendments to the directive that come from the European Parliament.
[4406/06]
290 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the extent and nature of his recent correspondence with the European Commission with regard to data provided by the Marine Institute showing a serious under-reporting of catches being landed at ports here and the reported secret landings of fish by Irish vessels at the Scottish port of Peterhead; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[3989/06]
286 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources further to Question No. 179 of 25 January 2006, the existing fibre networks which are being interoperated with the new metropolitan area network; the estimate of the length of such privately owned fibre optic cable that has been used in the construction of the metropolitan area network; and the contractual arrangements that apply in such cases.
[3835/06]
264 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Finance if it is possible within the provision of support mechanisms for biofuels to restrict duty exemption or other support mechanisms to fuels that are sourced either exclusively within the island of Ireland or within the European Union.
[3988/06]
134 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the progress which has been made to date in 2006 on the actions contained in his Department’s sustainable development strategy 2003-2005; if the potential for further work on green consumerism will be explored; if he will support the European Commission work on guidelines for making and assessing environmental self-declared claims by producers or distributors.
[4120/06]
113 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department has evidence of the lowering of average wage levels within certain sectors of the economy here due to an increase in labour supply from new European accession states; and the measures that are available to the Government to counter such a trend should it develop.
[4405/06]
62 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on whether the crime statistics 2005 released by his Department on 26 January 2006 show an alarming growth in the incidence of violent crime, especially murder here; the steps he intends to take to tackle this growth; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[3576/06]
70 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the measures he intends to take to assure the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and the Garda Representative Association that his proposals for a reserve Garda force will not destroy morale within the full-time force; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[3575/06]
320 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Defence the capability of Irish naval vessels to haul, inspect and store fishing nets from the open sea; and the provision the Navy has made for the recovery of deep sea gill nets which have recently been banned under European Union common fisheries policy.
[3387/06]
237 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the provision his Department is making for the recovery of deep sea gill nets which have recently been banned under European Union common fishery policy regulations.
[3388/06]
236 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the marine environmental monitoring protocols that are required to be implemented by oil exploration companies drilling in Irish waters.
[3386/06]
187 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport the role his Department has with regard to the enforcement of the 31 new penalty points offences; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[3290/06]
123 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport if he has satisfied himself with the level of availability of wheelchair accessible taxis within the main cities; and the proposed measures and timetable to increase such accessibility.
[3291/06]
236 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the approximate annual cost for the introduction of doctor-only medical cards for those under 16; the cost for a full medical card for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[3093/06]
184 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children when negotiations will be completed for a new consultants’ contract; when she last met representatives of the consultants to discuss this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[3092/06]
1435 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the obligations on his Department to designate marine special areas of conservation under Natura 2000; if his Department has been in communication with the European Commission in that regard; the position of the Commission in relation to same; and if migratory paths for salmon have been considered for inclusion as nominated areas.
[2520/06]
141 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the steps he intends to take at Council of Ministers and European Commission level to effect radical reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy to ensure that Irish naval vessels have real time and accurate information on the updated quota allocation that is available to each individual vessel fishing in Irish waters.
[2182/06]
115 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the steps he intends taking at Council of Ministers and European Commission level to effect radical reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy to ensure that Irish naval vessels have real-time information on the actual quota allocation that is available to each vessel fishing in Irish waters.
[2519/06]
307 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Education and Science her views on the disparity in terms of students with learning and other disabilities attending schools in north and south west Clondalkin compared with those in the Clondalkin village and Lucan areas.
[39589/05]
98 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason for the ongoing comparatively low level of adult participation in life-long learning, which amounted to a mere 7.2% of those between the ages of 25 and 64 in 2004 compared with a corresponding figure of 27.6% and 21.3% in Finland and the UK respectively; and the measures she proposes to improve the situation.
[37926/05]
121 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the recent contacts which have been made with the US Administration regarding its request for the extradition of a person (details supplied); if same has been raised with Dr. Condoleezza Rice; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[39314/05]
55 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position regarding EU diplomatic efforts to assist the Middle East peace process; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[39313/05]
320 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport if there are formal guidelines for local authorities specifying the technical procedures to be followed to evaluate the hazards on a given road in order that the appropriate speed limit can be set; and if there are formal definitions to enable local authorities to decide whether a particular stretch of road is to be considered an urban road or a rural road for the purposes of setting an appropriate speed limit.
[39096/05]
311 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport the details of the funding and conditions of the initiatives proposed under Transport 21 to foster the growth of sustainable transport.
[38874/05]
309 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to research which suggests that up to 50% of fatal car accidents here involve cars from four particular manufacturers; if his Department has similar statistics assessing the death rate by manufacturer and by model; and the way in which he intends to disseminate this information to the public in order that they can use it when making purchasing decisions.
[38803/05]
308 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport the percentage of drivers involved in traffic accidents in which death or serious injury occur, who possess full driving licences provisional driving licences or no driving licence.
[38775/05]
263 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if and when he intends publishing the Deloitte & Touche consultancy report on competition in the electricity market.
[39086/05]
134 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Finance if he will report on the ECOFIN meeting of 6 December 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[38910/05]
129 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Finance if the Government has received communication from the Government of the United States of America regarding the practice and application of Irish corporation and other tax rules on US registered companies operating here.
[37927/05]
198 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his role in the lobbying by Aer Lingus management for an exemption to equality law, in view of recent revelations regarding same.
[38539/05]
167 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport his role in the lobbying by Aer Lingus management for an exemption to equality law in view of recent revelations regarding same.
[38538/05]
92 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the support local authorities will receive when waters become contaminated with cryptosporidium through a variety of routes including run-off from agricultural land on which infected animals have defecated and following the spreading of slurry.
[38456/05]
88 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if the world trade talks will result in more cheap food imports from non-EU countries; the implications for agriculture here; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[38455/05]
94 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Defence if Ireland is participating in the EU’s military exercise (details supplied) from 22 November to 1 December 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[38205/05]
84 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Defence if the completion of the EU’s military requirements catalogue will result in increased armaments expenditure by Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[38206/05]