118 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Finance the plans he has to remove the insurance levy which was introduced in the 1980s as a result of the financial difficulties experienced by some insurance companies; his justification for the continuation of this insurance levy; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[24348/08]
90 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason the home care grant must be spent in employing a qualified home carer through an agency at greater cost to taxpayers when qualified persons can be directly employed costing considerably less; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[24121/08]
99 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the situation regarding the World Trade Organisation talks; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[23727/08]
783 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason Ireland has failed to ratify the UN convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which came into force in 2007; when it is proposed to ratify the Convention which reinforces equal rights for people with disabilities to education, health, work and community support services; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[23181/08]
572 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if disability payments will be pitched to more accurately reflect the true cost of disability estimated at an average of 30% of a person’s income here, ranging between 15% up to 48% for some people; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[23176/08]
520 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her plans to improve employment incentive schemes for businesses to employ workers with disabilities in view of the economic downturn; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[23175/08]
381 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will address the shortfalls in the area of muscular dystrophy, with particular reference to physiotherapy which is denied to 18% of MD sufferers and intermittently available to another 44%, and occupational therapy, personal assistance and counselling; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[23180/08]
380 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children her plans to improve services for patients with epilepsy; her proposals to address waiting lists for MRI scans, neuropsychological services and epilepsy surgery; her views on the shortage of neurologists and trained epileptologists here; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[23179/08]
379 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children her proposals to implement a code of practice that incorporates employment rights for persons with an intellectual disability in sheltered employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[23178/08]
378 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children when and the way she will address the lengthy waiting lists for specialist rheumatology treatment; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[23177/08]
181 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Finance the reason the State continues to pay for customs and excise services at privately owned and regional airports which receive both capital grant funding and public service obligation subsidies; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[22565/08]
83 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Transport if all money allocated for public transport programmes in 2008 will be spent in full; the amount spent to date in 2008 for public transport; the amount remaining to be spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[23334/08]
201 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason this Deputy has not received an answer to Parliamentary Question No. 527 of 12 February 2008 and 544 of 17 April 2008, in relation to the numbers randomly breath-tested on roads here in 2007; the number and percentage of those who were taken to Garda stations for blood or urine testing; the number and percentage of those who were found to be over the blood alcohol limit; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[22413/08]
19 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children her plans to provide appropriate adult placements for the autistic students leaving a school (details supplied) in County Dublin at the end of June 2008, particularly in view of the oral commitment at a meeting in September 2007 by the Health Service Executive disability manager that no school leaver from the school would be denied services and the HSE’s failure to allocate funding for the appropriate day and residential services needed by these autistic children, with the result that no transition programmes can be commenced for the students; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[22009/08]
360 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science his proposals to reduce and eventually eliminate the heavy reliance, particularly by primary schools, on prefabricated rooms for temporary classroom accommodation and other purposes; his views on the suitability or otherwise of prefabs in inclement weather conditions for these purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20726/08]
272 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if, in view of the valuable contribution that old folks associations make to local communities in providing old folks centres for the aged and retired, he will exempt such centres from water charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20345/08]
12 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Defence the number and percentage of each grade of civil servant within his Department who are work-sharing and e-working respectively; the number and percentage of each grade who have applied to participate in the term time scheme in 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20009/08]
40 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Defence the number and frequency of resupply flights from Ireland to Chad expected each month; the number of passenger seats that each flight will have; the use that it is intended these seats will be put to; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20008/08]
87 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science if the quality of the educational provision in primary schools across the country will be enhanced or at least maintained in view of his reversal of the Government’s commitment in the programme for Government to reduce class sizes, thereby depriving schools of the services of more than 140 teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15574/08]
203 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children the rationale behind the decision to outsource cervical screening services to a laboratory (details supplied) in view of the fact that Irish laboratories, whose staffs have provided this service for many years in the absence of a national screening programme, already meet international best practice criteria; if specialist graduates from the training programme established between the Irish cervical screening programme, the Academy of Medical Laboratory Sciences and DIT Kevin Street will be surplus to requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[19283/08]
130 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the issues raised by the EU Commission in recent correspondence regarding the operational programme for fisheries; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[19605/08]
98 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if his Department will introduce policy measures to tackle escalating costs of animal feed and fertilisers; if he will ensure Ireland does not hinder the efforts of millers to import ingredients for animal feed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[19606/08]
82 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, in the upcoming review of the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement, she will ensure that greater priority is given to affording older people greater social protection in the areas of poverty, inequality, access to basic services, age discrimination in employment and social exclusion; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13623/08]
30 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Transport when he plans to reform the Transport Act 1932 to allow for greater bus competition; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[17457/08]
89 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will include a question on the next national Census form asking if any person or persons in each household has autism, as such information is important to establish the levels of autism here, and is vital to assist in policy development in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[16025/08]
14 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children the status of the fair deal Nursing Home Support Scheme Bill; when she expects it will be returned from the Attorney General’s office; when she expects it will be published; if the plan was poorly planned and prematurely announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16272/08]
17 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the cost of not plugging the avoidance scheme on stamp duty; and the reason this was deemed an appropriate policy boost tool for the housing sector.
[15645/08]
194 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will take the necessary steps to ensure that all children with Down’s syndrome will have an automatic entitlement to the maximum allocation of low incidence teaching hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15573/08]
193 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science her plans to drastically increase the annual capitation grant to schools to realistically take account of the real administrational costs of running schools between secretarial and caretaking staffs, maintenance, lighting and heating, water supply and waste disposal; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15572/08]
192 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science her plans to ensure that appropriate indoor physical education facilities will be provided in all primary schools; if provision will be made for an annual grant to be paid to all schools for the implementation of the PE curriculum; if it is her intention to employ specialist PE teachers in primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15571/08]
191 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science when she proposes to provide the promised €250 million provision for up-to-date information and communications technology in primary schools to replace the largely outdated and inadequate equipment; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15570/08]
190 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science if Special Education Circular 02/05 will be revised to ensure that children with specific special needs or with a mild general learning disability in mainstream primary schools will receive continuous full-time special needs assistance and low incidence teaching hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15569/08]
647 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he will take to ensure that Members of the Oireachtas receive replies within a maximum two to three week period to representations on behalf of constituents to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[14282/08]
613 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will give careful consideration to the firearms issues related to the running of the shooting phase of the youth B competition in the upcoming European modern pentathlon competition to be staged here from 2 to 7 July 2008; if this will be taken into consideration in the completion of the new firearms legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[14600/08]
572 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the delays in processing Irish citizenship applications which can run to upwards of three years; if the process of notifying applicants, if their applications meet the statutory conditions can be expedited; if additional staff will be recruited to reduce the current backlog of applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[14203/08]
544 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will supply this Deputy with the information sought in Parliamentary Question No. 527 of 12 February 2008 relating to the numbers randomly breath-tested on roads here in 2007; the number and percentage of those who were taken to Garda stations for blood or urine testing; the number and percentage of those who were found to be over the blood-alcohol limit; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13862/08]
176 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children if additional resources, in the form of extra social worker staff, will be provided in the Dublin area to address and expedite processing of the Adoption Board’s lengthy backlog of inter-country adoption applications, where waiting periods are usually upwards of 24 months prior to assessment; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13861/08]
99 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science if her Department will accord recognition to all Down’s syndrome children as having specific learning disabilities, thus providing an automatic entitlement for them to a minimum number of learning support hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[10102/08]
163 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she has proposals to amend the Foreshore Act 1933 in relation to the development of offshore wind farms; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12586/08]
118 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will take the necessary steps to ensure that adequate stocks of important State benefit application forms, such as the household benefits package are maintained at the various outlets in order that stocks do not become exhausted, as many persons do not have access to electronic means of applying; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[11139/08]
257 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Transport if he will replace the Transport 21 metro proposals with the original Dublin Transportation Office proposal to link Luas and metro lines to ensure a viable and fast through-city centre rail connection, and avoid unnecessary duplication of light rail lines through the city, that is, street light rail and metro tunnel between St. Stephen’s Green and O’Connell Street; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[10028/08]
419 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of speech and language therapy graduates who qualified from the various colleges in each of the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[8931/08]
40 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has plans to reconcile the new motor taxation scheme commencing on 1 July 2008 with the existing motor taxation scheme, in order to prevent inequalities in the treatment for taxation purposes of identical vehicles purchased prior to July 2008, and in the resale values of otherwise perfectly good cleaner motor vehicles; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[4025/08]
226 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Transport the qualifications and requirements for those who drive taxis, but who are not the owners; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[7546/08]
202 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children if Directive 92/73EEC or Directive 92/74EEC have been transposed into Irish law; if they were enacted or transposed by way of statutory instruments; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[8006/08]
40 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the counties she will make visits to during the next two months; the purposes of these visits; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[6875/08]
33 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the main agenda items for the next European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council that are of concern to Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[6876/08]
527 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the numbers randomly breath-tested on roads in 2007; the number and percentage of those who were taken to Garda stations for blood or urine testing; the number and percentage of these who were found to be over the blood/alcohol limit; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[4495/08]