Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

We discussed the changes to the schedule with the Leader earlier. It is important that the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012 be dealt with over two days and I thank the Leader for acceding to our request in this regard. My party colleagues and I intend to table a number of amendments, including several new sections.

Will the Leader indicate when the committee established by the Government to consider the pyrite issue will report? The Minister replied to my colleague, Senator Thomas Byrne's inquiry on this matter on the Adjournment recently, but we are increasingly concerned about the delay. As I observed in the House on a previous occasion, up to 72,500 houses, predominantly on the east coast, are potentially affected by pyrite. There is a need for action on this matter. I ask the Leader to try to discover when the working group is due to report. I also request that time be made available for a debate on this issue when the report to which I refer is published. Such a debate could also encompass matters such as building control standards, etc., particularly in the context of the debacle that occurred with regard to Priory Hall. I raised the latter on a number of occasions in the House and I welcome the fact that discussions and a proper process - facilitated by the Department - are ongoing with the residents and the council. This has been a long time coming but I hope it will give rise to a solution in respect of this matter. Unfortunately, Priory Hall will not be the only apartment block or housing development where the problem to which I refer will be experienced.

The next matter of concern to me is water charges, particularly in the context of how much people will be obliged to pay, when they will pay, how much free water they will receive and who will be responsible for paying the cost of installing meters. Everything in this regard remains up in the air. In light of the debacles that have occurred in respect of the household charge, the septic tank charge and water charges, I am of the view that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government should come before the House at the earliest possible opportunity to clarify the position and to allow Senators to put across their points of view. There will be time to deal with this matter during the next week or two and I ask the Leader to accede to my request in this regard.

I wish to raise one final matter and I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his indulgence. I welcome the fact that today we be take Second Stage of the Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) Bill or the fiscal compact Bill. As stated on previous occasions, my party will play a positive role in respect of this legislation and is advocating a "Yes" vote in the forthcoming referendum, which is important. The Bill will not provide the panacea to all our ills. Anyone who argues that a treaty should be such a panacea is obviously missing the point. I agree with what Deputy Niall Collins has stated in respect of this matter, namely, that the treaty is one part of the jigsaw in the context of dealing with the ongoing crisis in Europe. Unfortunately, the response of the ECB and the European Union to this crisis has been both incoherent and slow. Those entities have not engaged in any form of joined-up thinking in respect of this matter. That aside, I ask those who are advocating a "No" vote to indicate their alternatives. The treaty is but one piece of the solution. It is not the solution in itself.