The Order of Business is No. 1, motion re Saint Patrick’s Hospital Dublin (Charter Amendment) Order 2014, to be taken without debate at the conclusion of the Order of Business; and No. 2, Forestry Bill 2013 – Report and Final Stages, to be taken at the conclusion of No. 1.
Order of Business
Does the Leader have an indication from the Government as to when, post the budget, the social welfare and pensions Bill will be brought before the House? I assume it will be within the next couple of weeks. I raise the issu because all Members of the House, including Government Members, should be aware that it offers a real opportunity to the Government to redress the total unfairness pertaining to the Aer Lingus and airport pensions. Many Members will have received extensive e-mails from normal families around the country whose promised pensions the Government proposes to cut by up to 60%. There may be an unintended consequence in this regard and in advance of publication of the social welfare and pensions Bill, I urge Government Members, in particular, to impress on the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, that it offers an opportunity to address this imbalance, particularly for the deferred members of those schemes who face cuts of up to 60%. I am aware that some Labour Party Senators, in particular, have been deeply involved in the background in this regard, but it will be time for people to put their money where their mouths are during the passage of the Bill. More importantly, it will be the time to save many families from extensive drastic cuts to their pensions. I ask Members to read in detail what has been sent to them by normal families and people who are due to retire in the next couple of years regarding the cuts that will be brought on them by the Government should this issue not be rectified in the Bill.
I note that today is European Restart a Heart Day. I listened to a radio interview on Newstalk this morning with a young man from Swords named Darragh Lawlor, whom I know quite well. He carried out cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, on an individual on Main Street in Swords who happened to be his uncle, although he did not realise this was the case. He kept the man alive who has now recovered fully. A total of 70% of cardiac arrests happen in the home and the purpose of European Restart a Heart Day is to try to encourage people to upskill in the area of CPR. While I am aware that the Minister for Health is due to come into the House on 4 November, there will be a lot to go through and I believe a separate debate in the House on a national policy on defibrillation and defibrillators is merited. Certain councils and areas of the country are good at it, but I refer to a national policy, as opposed to a roll-out of defibrillators. I also suggest to the Leas-Chathaoirleach that schools are an ideal place for young adults to learn these skills, particularly in transition year. Does the Department of Education and Skills have a policy whereby there can be a roll-out through the schools, thus ensuring all young adults would be trained in CPR techniques? I ask the Leader to arrange a debate specifically on this issue in the next few weeks. It is important and a job Members could do here to inform Government policy on the roll-out of defibrillators and the provision of training in life-saving CPR.
I thank Senator Darragh O'Brien for a good idea on CPR on this day. I am certain that some schools engage in CPR training and understand the Senator's suggestion to be that it could be formalised and set in place in order that all schools might be able to avail of it. Thereafter, young people going out into the world would have such training at their disposal and this might be a matter on which Members could engage in this House.
In respect of pensions, the Senator is absolutely correct that a number of Labour Party Senators have raised this matter with the Tánaiste and will continue to raise it with her in the next few weeks.
I take the opportunity to welcome the reassurances of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, regarding those persons who fell between the several changes to the water allowances, that is, those who fell neither into the fuel allowance additional measures nor the tax relief measures. The Department is well aware that a number of people fall between these positions and the Minister and his Department will find ways to make sure they are not left out of the changes made regarding the payments for water and Irish Water.
It was not very bright of him.
Senator Susan O'Keeffe to continue, without interruption.
Perhaps it is the case that it is a little more complex than that. Having engaged in a conversation with the Minister on this matter, he has explained and will explain to anyone who asks that it is not deliberate but rather that when making the measure on a single piece of paper, there are some people for whom one size simply does not fit all. However, the Government is well aware that there are people who fall between the two measures and there is every intent to make sure they do not remain outside them.
Panic measures.
I welcome the holding of the One Young World Summit 2014 in Dublin. Members may be aware that Dublin put in a bid and the aforementioned summit is being held here. Members are in the presence of a group of young people this morning and really this is about bringing leadership and encouraging young people to take their place in the world and allow their voices to be heard. They are the leaders of the future and it is good to see some of the older mentors such as Mary Robinson, Kofi Annan and Bob Geldof in Dublin to share their thoughts and wisdom with young people. It is a good day and a good place to have them.
On a number of occasions I have raised matters relating to the special investigations unit of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. While I accept that it has been disbanded, I am concerned about its legacy. If the Minister finds it difficult to attend the House because of the nature of the issues that led to the unit's disbanding, he may need to put in place an investigation into its legacy. The unit operated for many years, behaved like a private hit squad and effectively ruined the lives and reputations of a number of farmers. It is not enough just to disband the unit; we must examine its legacy and what it did. The confidence that the Department's new investigations division needs will not be there if the old system has not been thoroughly interrogated in a fashion that gives results and shows that there is nothing to hide. If there were problems, let us know what they were. Otherwise, we will not change or learn.
When a local authority did not function in the past, the Government installed a commissioner to run it. We are getting close to that situation with Irish Water. There are reports of the meetings yesterday of the Government parliamentary parties where the issue was raised. There is surplus staff, a bonus culture, weak regulation by a regulator that pays its own staff bonuses, the inability to communicate, the "take it or leave it" attitude and the off-balance sheet vehicle that is allegedly meant to promote investment. We need to debate what is turning out to be a poll tax. The consumption of water does not change as people's incomes increase. We used to pay for water through general taxation, even though the first piece of propaganda was that we did not. The losses were mistakenly blamed on the consumer rather than the supplier. We must recover from a very bad start in the operation of Irish Water. Will the Leader arrange for a debate early next week in which these alternatives are considered?
I note the opinions of Fr. Peter McVerry on the housing crisis. Like me, he welcomed what the Government did on Tuesday, but this is a multifaceted problem. In the buy-to-let sector, tenants need protection when their landlords are in trouble. In communications with Senators, the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, showed an interest in this matter. Can we get a lease and a tribunal on rents for such people? The rental sector is here to stay. If we can index rents to some measure of consumer prices, tenants will be protected in their leases. The amount they pay should not be decided in a bubble economy by the vulture capitalists who are taking over buy-to-let properties. The landlords went broke, not the tenants.
We need to tackle brownfield sites in city centres. There is so much dereliction between Heuston Station and Christ Church Cathedral. Are all of these landlords waiting for a bonus when Dublin City Council comes calling with compulsory purchase orders? Can we impose obligations on them to maintain their properties? Brownfield sites have something to contribute. NAMA offered empty houses to some local authorities. As the Leader will recall, there was a low rate of acceptance. The houses might be in the wrong places, but we cannot all live in Killiney and Dalkey. If houses are available and we have a homelessness problem, the Minister should attend the Seanad to debate the matter in the widest possible context within the parameters set out in Fr. McVerry's article, including the question of the capital gains tax paid by people who flip trophy homes and take out large property supplements in our newspapers, distorting the way we view the housing issue.
I am glad that Senator Darragh O'Brien has been restored to his proper place and I welcome him back.
I thank the Senator.
I am glad that Senator Mark Daly was not present to hear that.
I was not going to say that. Yesterday saw references to various literary figures, ending with Senator Ned O'Sullivan citing Mark Twain. We could have done without the other Mark.
He seems to have upset Senator Paul Coghlan a little.
Senator Mark Daly is an elected Member of the House. The Senator should be respectful of him.
I am glad that Senator Darragh O'Brien has replaced the usurper and a more sanguine mood obtains.
It is Thursday.
The right choice was made.
I take Senator Darragh O'Brien's points on pensions and CPR. I am delighted that in the budget the Minister gave notice of his intention to abolish the pension levy. Most of it will take effect this year with a little remaining for next year.
He extended it by two years.
I agree with the Senator's other point, but perhaps the show is not over yet. Sometimes, time and space are needed. For years, I felt bad about the pension levy. All of the people in the private sector who saved hard were having their pension pots raided without having a say in the matter. We understand why it was done, the reason being the appalling state of the nation's finances. While we are not yet back on an even keel, we are well on the road. Please God, there will be further progress. I am sure the Leader agrees.
Táim ag ceapadh - cé go bhfáiltímid roimh na beartais atá déanta maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa bhuiséad - nach léir don Rialtas i ndáiríre cé chomh géar is atá an ghéarchéim atá anseo.
We all welcomed the moves in the budget concerning homelessness and the building of social housing, but I am unsure as to whether the Government understands the scale of the crisis facing us. COPE is mentioned on the front page of this week's Galway Advertiser. I met the organisation last Monday. It dealt with 66 homeless people on one night, comprising 44 adults and 22 children, with 11 more sleeping rough in the city. COPE has spoken of a significant crisis in the private rental market. This morning, only two or three houses are eligible or made available by their landlords for the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, in Galway city. There is also an issue with the availability of social housing. In Galway 4,000 people are on the waiting list.
Last night I listened to a debate in which Fr. McVerry participated. He believes the figure of 10,000 houses over four years, equating to 2,500 houses per year, would barely keep up with the number of people becoming homeless, never mind the number of people on waiting lists. The Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, made a presentation in European Union House this morning that touched on this matter, as well as the issue of families in poverty. There is a looming mortgage crisis, with banks foreclosing on families and private landlords and pushing people out of their homes.
The scale of the homelessness crisis has not yet hit home with the Government. I call for an emergency debate on the matter. I appreciate that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, will introduce his Department's housing proposals, but this matter crosses a number of Departments, including the Department of Social Protection where, as we have been saying, the level of rent supplement has not met the cost of renting in recent years. No rent controls are in place either. A cross-departmental approach is required to address this crisis, something akin to a Government task force. More and more people are sleeping rough, yet I do not get the sense that this is a significant priority for the Government, given that it did not make enough available in this year's budget.
As Senator Sean D. Barrett suggested, instead of just considering this issue in terms of social housing, we should take a broader perspective. Any of the Ministers with responsibility for housing and homelessness in their portfolios should be invited to the House to discuss this matter, perhaps at one of the Seanad consultation committee meetings. As well as inviting other witnesses to discuss the matter in detail, it would be a good use of the Chamber, as the crisis is not being taken on board by the Government.
I have just come from the launch of a very important report on sexual violence by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. I commend the Chairman of the committee, Deputy David Stanton, and the two rapporteurs for producing what I consider a ground-breaking report on what needs to be done about the appalling crime of domestic violence. The report makes a number of significant recommendations, specifically on redefining and creating an offence of domestic violence and firming up the penalties. It also makes recommendations on how An Garda Síochána can improve its service to victims of domestic violence. It also suggests a possible constitutional change. We have had constitutional referendums on many issues recently, but a referendum to give constitutional protection to people who become the victims of domestic violence is something the Irish people would welcome and, I have no doubt, endorse. I call for a debate, perhaps this side of Christmas, on domestic violence and the contents of the very fine report published by the committee.
I am not surprised there is a Fine Gael revolt over Irish Water as the management of the company is an absolute disaster. I do not concur with the terribly disparaging remarks made by Deputy Anthony Lawlor about the chief executive which are not repeatable in the House.
They were corrected.
Come on.
The revolt taking place is a result of the two by-elections at the weekend.
An unfortunate leak.
On Sunday the Government decided to introduce panic measures to alleviate the political damage caused to Fine Gael and the Labour Party. In County Roscommon 20,000 people are on boil water notices. Commitments were given by the Fine Gael candidate that no charge would apply to these 20,000 people. This was not mentioned in the budget or in any press release since from Irish Water. This was an effort to try to get votes in Roscommon-South Leitrim. I will pursue this matter through an Adjournment debate, with the permission of the Leas-Chathaoirleach, to see exactly what is involved.
Fianna Fáil opposed the Water Services Bill because a full audit of the network should be completed and it should contain fair allowances for families. Water is a basic necessity of life.
It must be piped and treated.
The Government has now moved in this direction. A total of 200,000 low income and unemployed families will receive no allowance under the budget which will be redrawn within days of being announced with great fanfare. Pensioners with a taxable income who qualify for the household benefits package will benefit from the budget but not unemployed people. The Government will have to review in the Finance Bill the position on water charges. Another anomaly has arisen whereby landlords with the PPS numbers of their tenants can return the form without the permission of the tenants. This was brought to the attention of Senator Darragh O'Brien this morning by a constituent. All of these anomalies arise.
The Senator's time is up.
Another complication-----
In fairness, the Leader yesterday promised a debate on Irish Water in the coming weeks with the Minister.
Will the chief executive of Irish Water come to the house and respond? The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, has no knowledge whatsoever. He is absolutely redundant as far as this issue is concerned. The poor fellow has no clue as far as Irish Water is concerned.
The Senator's time is up.
It is the most amazing thing. I have never come across such incompetent Ministers in the history of the State than those appointed in the reshuffle.
Fianna Fáil was worse.
We could help with a few names.
It sounds like there is a drip on the other side of the House.
You can drip away, but when it comes to the next election you will be gone.
Yesterday I admonished Members not to catcall across the Chamber. It demeans and devalues the House. Senators should make their points and not be personal.
The Leas-Chathaoirleach is absolutely right.
The Senator would be the first to look for a lesson.
Senator Terry Leyden's concerns about the Labour Party and Fine Gael are a little like the corpse expressing concern about those at the wake.
The Senator has quickly forgotten the local elections. There are a lot of former Fine Gael councillors walking around the place not knowing what to do, if they are not appointed to a State board, that is.
Bí cúramach anois, a Sheanadóir.
As I am sure Fianna Fáil is very deeply upset about the result of the Roscommon-South Leitrim by-election, I will say no more about it.
Its vote was more than that of Fine Gael and the Labour Party combined.
We held the vote in Roscommon-South Leitrim.
What?
We held the vote in Roscommon-South Leitrim.
Tá an t-am nach mór istigh, a Sheanadóir.
Senator Terry Leyden raised the issue of Irish Water. We had a great discussion about it at the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting. It was not a bun fight; it was a great discussion and progress was made. Our attitude to Irish Water, which I am sure is the same as Fianna Fáil's, is that we need better contact if there is a problem. We cannot be fobbed off by being given a number and then hearing nothing for a long time. There are teething problems with Irish Water, but the ordinary people are prepared to pay for water once it is fair and everyone pays up. Those stirring up trouble and telling people not to pay will sneak in themselves and pay it and leave people in the lurch, which they did with property tax. We need an early discussion on Irish Water. Does the Leader have it on the agenda?
I agree completely with what my colleague Senator Sean D. Barrett stated on Irish Water. I listened with great interest and amusement to the spokesperson, a woman, speaking about it and denying the fact there were any bonuses. She said there was performance related remuneration. Performance related remuneration equals bonus and let us be honest about it. This is a fact - bonuses are being paid. As a result of how local authority staff were taken over, there are 2,000 surplus workers. We are paying 2,000 people to do nothing. A very large number of people are on between €100,000 and €150,000 and it is the same in the Civil Service. Here we are, elected Members of the Parliament, the rulers of the country, who receive approximately €60,000, all of which must be vouched and vetted and we must tap in. We are lackeys. We do not have respect for ourselves. We should be looking for a proper wage and proper conditions. Get rid of all the allowances and have everything vouched.
I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 12, Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014 – First Stage, be taken before No. 1. The Bill is entitled "an Act to provide for the regularisation of the residency status of persons who have applied for refugee status and/or subsidiary protection if four years following the submission of such an application the application remains undetermined and to provide for related matters". I understand Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú has agreed to second the amendment.
I second the proposal made by Senator Darragh O'Brien on the Irish aviation superannuation scheme, which is nothing short of a disgrace. Senators Darragh O'Brien and Thomas Byrne and I, among others, have raised this issue many times in the House, trying to get Members on the opposite side to see the injustice behind it. It is the first legislation brought through to destroy the rights of private workers' pensions. We are now seeing the impact of what it means - unfair cuts across the board and particularly outrageous cuts for deferred members of the airline scheme.
It is disgraceful.
How would any Member feel if his or her pension was cut by 60% just as he or she approached pension age? These are people who worked for a long time in tough jobs and who paid their pension contributions into a private scheme and now they are being cut by 60%. It is an absolute disgracem but it is not too late to stop it. We will push this issue again with the Minister for Social Protection during the debate on the social welfare and pensions Bill. I appeal to everybody on the opposite side to look at this issue again. Much of the information they are being given is misinformation as they will have seen from the e-mails sent back to them correcting misstatements made by various Ministers about the issue.
I call on the Leader to schedule a debate in the House on the need for Ireland to recognise the Palestinian state. As Members will be aware, the Swedish Government gave diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian state earlier this week. The British House of Commons approved a backbench motion in favour of recognising Palestine. I think Ireland should have recognised Palestine decades ago, but certainly when the PLO first agreed to recognise Israel. It is particularly important in the aftermath of Israel's latest assault on Gaza that the international community sends out a clear message of support for the Palestinian people and for their right to self-determination and reaffirms our absolute disgust at Israel's continued decision to wilfully ignore for decades UN resolutions calling on it to end its illegal occupation of Palestine. As a country we have always led on this issue. We have led in terms of supporting the Palestinian people and lobbying on their behalf internationally. Unfortunately, in the midst of Israel's latest assault on Gaza, that did not happen as our Government was silent and hid behind the European Union. I hope that in this case, since two of our EU partners have decided to recognise Palestine, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade will show some courage on this issue and stand up and promote what is right internationally and not hide behind the European Union. Two other countries have had no difficulty in unilaterally recognising the state of Palestine. It would be an important symbolic move to restate our support for Palestine and our support for two states, the states of Palestine and Israel, living together, but everybody needs to be on the same page. It is ridiculous to hear Israeli speakers say it would be wrong to have unilateral recognition of Palestine when in the aftermath of a ceasefire in Gaza, after it had left ruination, murder and carnage behind, it started to build more settlements and did everything it could to undermine a two state solution. At the very least, the tiniest symbolic move we can make is to stand with the Palestinian people, row in behind our Swedish and UK colleagues and recognise the Palestinian state and do everything we can to help bring it about.
We are very good in this country at paying lip-service to a great number of things. One of these issues is national monuments. There is plenty of talk about all we are doing to preserve and conserve literally tens of thousands of national monuments across the country. One sign of neglect, however, is the lack of progress on the new national monuments Bill which has been on the Order of Paper for a number of years with no sign of progress being made towards putting it on the Statute Book. I ask the Leader to ascertain the status of the long overdue, long-awaited and eagerly anticipated national monuments Bill and how we might be able to ensure its progression through the House.
I second Senator David Norris's amendment to the Order of Business.
Tourism is still one of the most vibrant and progressive industries in Ireland, having served us well down through the years. In the past, its economic benefits were spread right throughout the country such that many small villages that did not have a hotel benefited. In recent years there has been a tendency for tourism to be concentrated in areas of population. One sector that appears to be suffering too much is the bed and breakfast sector. In the past, this sector was very important where five or six were located in small communities. If four or five people stayed in each bed and breakfast establishment, it meant that these people were spending money in the local economy. One of the main reasons bed and breakfast establishments are suffering so much is that there is too much bureaucracy attached to them. I would like to have the statistics, but I believe about 50% have gone out of business altogether. The overheads are exceptional and it is almost impossible to provide a service at a competitive rate because of the NAMA hotel rates with which they cannot compete. The difficulty is that as tourism expands, the bed and breakfast sector will be required and only a small proportion of them will be available. We still have discerning tourists coming to Ireland who do not want a hotel experience; they want a local community experience, and an experience of staying in an Irish home. That has been a huge selling point of our hospitality image down through the years. We have let it slip off the radar because, during the Celtic tiger, the tendency was to build large hotels in areas of population. The NAMA hotel rates are a further blow to the bed and breakfast sector.
I would like the Minister to come to the House for a debate on tourism in general and not to take for granted that it will continue to be stable and vibrant, and continue to grow. That would be a mistake because we are also facing competition from other countries. Tourism has not been getting the attention it should have been receiving for 20 or 30 years when it would have been centre stage because we regarded tourism as something we were good at. We had so many attractions, natural and otherwise, that tourism was a solid industry. We are taking our eye off the ball. The concept of all tourism going to built up areas, the areas of population, is not a good trend when it is done at the expense of other parts of the country.
In response to Senator Averil Power, it is important to have an holistic debate on the current situation in the Middle East. Normally one would almost be run over in the stampede once one spoke about the Palestinian people and Palestinian recognition. Strangely enough, down through the years there has never been such a stampede when people have spoken about the security of the people of Israel or the right of that country to exist. We need a substantive debate on that matter.
While I do not expect the Minister to arrive in the House this afternoon or even next week, I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to the House to discuss the Lost at Sea report which is a stain on the nation's politics. In the history of the Ombudsman's office, only three special reports have issued. We all know the circumstances, including the Leas-Chathaoirleach. A previous Government and a previous Minister did a grave disservice to a family who suffered deep loss and bereavement arising from a dreadful fishing tragedy. The circumstances have not changed. The current Government parties, individually and collectively - I was a member of that grouping - put forward in the last phase of politics before the Dáil, the Seanad and the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine a strong request to the then Government to respond positively to the Ombudsman's report. The circumstances have not changed one bit since, except that people have moved to different sides of this and the other House. If the public sees no action by the Government on the report, it will ask why bother voting and why bother changing Governments if nothing changes. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to come to the House to explain what is happening to the commitment we all gave to a family to respond to the Ombudsman's special report. The Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, who has moved on to a much higher and significant phase on the European stage, put enormous work into the report. It will be a damning indictment of all of us if we do not implement her recommendations.
I have asked for this on a few occasions, but as the weeks and months pass, the pain, suffering and loss experienced by the families concerned have not diminished. They must feel angry about the way the State and various Governments have ignored them. I want the issue to be debated in the House and to hear from the Minister and the Government on whether they intend to keep their word.
Senator Darragh O'Brien referred to the social welfare and pensions Bill. I do not have the exact date, but it will be brought before the House in the next number of weeks. While it will deal with the increase in child benefit and so on announced in the budget, it may present an opportunity for the Senator to mention the plight of deferred benefit pensioners, an issue he, Senator Averil Power and many Fine Gael and Labour Party Members have raised with the Minister. The Minister is examining it and it is hoped a resolution can be found.
Senator Darragh O'Brien also called for the introduction of a national policy on defibrillators, with which I would agree. Senator Feargal Quinn brought forward a Bill dealing with the provision of defibrillators, which was supported in the House on Second Stage. A subsequent Health Information and Quality Authority report suggested a nationwide roll-out of defibrillators would be very expensive, but suggestions were made that CPR training could be provided in transition year. This is happening in some schools and such a programme could be established. I agree that we should have a national policy on the provision of defibrillators. It is a matter the Senator could raise with the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, when he comes to the House in early course.
Senators Susan O'Keeffe and Terry Leyden called on the Government to deal with the anomalies in the payment of water charges in the case of low income families. I assure the Senators that the issue will be addressed. They also welcomed the holding of the One Young World Summit, about which Senator Catherine Noone spoke on the Order of Business yesterday.
Senator Susan O'Keeffe spoke about the legacy of the special investigations unit in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on which she called for a debate. I hope the agriculture committee will call the Minister to appear before it for a debate on the issue. It is probably the most appropriate forum in which to hold such a debate, but I agree with the Senator that a debate should take place. It is not just a case of abolishing the special investigations unit; we must examine the legacy issue and the position of families affected by its actions.
Senators Sean D. Barrett and Jim D'Arcy, among others, called for a further debate on Irish Water. I have asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to again come to the House. I do not have a date, but I will continue to ask him to come to have a further debate with us on the issue.
Senator Sean D. Barrett also spoke about the need to expedite the housing programme to deal with the problem of homelessness, an issue which was also raised by Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh. The Government has allocated €2.2 billion, an unprecedented amount, for the housing programme, but I understand the Minister will make a further announcement next week on additional measures to tackle the problem of homelessness. We should await that announcement when I believe there will be further good news. It is regrettable, however, that in the boom years in the economy - it was a time of plenty - no heed was paid to the provision of social housing.
That is not true, as the Leader knows.
That is another legacy issue.
The Leader should correct the record.
Little or no social housing was provided.
That is a ridiculous comment.
The Leader to continue, without interruption.
Thousands of social housing developments were built.
They preferred to see housing being provided by developers at that stage.
(Interruptions).
Senator Darragh O'Brien can raise that issue next week.
Not enough schools were built.
Schools, housing and everything else-----
Fine Gael snobs in local authorities opposed social housing schemes throughout the country.
Partisan politics-----
The Leader to continue, without interruption.
I ask the Leader to check how many social houses were built in the past 14 years.
The Senator should ask those on housing lists; they will tell him.
Senator Paul Coghlan welcomed the measures to abolish the pension levy.
Senator Martin Conway referred to the report of the justice committee on domestic violence. I will try to arrange a debate on the report with the relevant Minister.
Senator Terry Leyden highlighted the fact that many people were subject to boil water notices in County Roscommon. I can assure him that no charges will be applicable to them.
Good.
The Senator is suffering from amnesia concerning Fianna Fáil's attitude to water charges. People would have been paying a €400 flat charge for the past two years-----
Not true.
-----if Fianna Fáil had managed to get into office, but, thankfully, that did not happen.
Is the Leader provoking us?
(Interruptions).
I agree with Senator David Norris. If I was doing a crossword and had to come up with a five letter word for performance-related payments, it would be "bonus". I am agreeable to the Senator's amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 12 be taken before No. 1.
Senator Averil Power mentioned the plight of the Palestinian people. As I said yesterday, the Government recently pledged an additional €2.5 million for the rebuilding of Palestine. It has been the policy of successive Governments that there be a two-state solution in the Middle East where Palestine and Israel are concerned.
I will find out for Senator John Gilroy the status of the national monuments Bill and revert to him on the issue.
Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú spoke about tourism matters, especially the plight of the bed and breakfast accommodation sector and the need to reinvigorate it. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, will be in the House on 26 November for a debate on tourism when the Senator will have an opportunity to raise the relevant points with him.
Senator Paul Bradford referred the Ombudsman's report, Lost at Sea. I agree totally with the sentiments expressed by the Senator. We will have a debate on fisheries on 12 November with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney. That will be an opportune time to raise the matter with him.
I apologise to Senator Michael Mullins whom I omitted to call, even though his name was on the list. The Leas-Chathaoirleach can err on rare occasions.
Senator David Norris has proposed an amendment to the Order of Business: "That No. 12 be taken before No. 1." The Leader has indicated that he is prepared to accept the amendment. Is the amendment agreed to? Agreed.
Order of Business, as amended, agreed to.