Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Most Members will agree this week has been an historic one for the Houses of the Oireachtas, in particular the Seanad. Our Taoiseach found where the Seanad Chamber was and saw fit to address members of other jurisdictions in the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, which, by the way, I very much welcome, and yet he has not seen fit in 14 months to come to the House to speak to Members of the Seanad who were duly elected to it, who are part of the Oireachtas and who are part of the Legislature.

I welcome the fact the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly was a very successful two-day event, having spoken to colleagues on all sides of the House who were involved, including the Whip, but it showed very clearly the contempt in which the Taoiseach and some of his Ministers hold Members of the Seanad. It is not acceptable. Maybe it is because we are not as compliant as the Dáil where the Taoiseach has a large majority of 59 Deputies but he would be given the due regard and respect he deserves as Taoiseach of this country.

When will the Taoiseach see fit to come to this House to talk to Members or will Senators have to sit in the Visitors Gallery in the Seanad when parliamentarians from other jurisdictions decide to use the Chamber for a plenary session? The matter should be addressed very quickly. Will the Deputy Leader ask the Department of the Taoiseach and the Taoiseach directly when he will come to the House to talk to Senators and explain his ideas not on reforming this House, I might add, but on abolishing it? I ask the Deputy Leader to take up this matter.

On a number of occasions I have asked when the pyrite committee established by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, will complete its report and I ask the Deputy Leader to follow up on this. I have raised this matter on six separate occasions since November but no report is pending. I was very concerned to see the Minister had appointed an individual to the Housing Finance Agency who was a former director of HomeBond, which has washed its hands of all the problems caused by the pyrite issues springing up on the east coast. This is a very important report and citizens are waiting for it. Will the Deputy Leader follow up on this?

We need an urgent debate on Garda resourcing, the closure of rural Garda stations and the restriction in the activities of many urban Garda stations. Once again I will table an amendment to the Order of Business to call on the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, to come to the House to address the specific issues relating to the closure and restriction of Garda stations. I remind Members that when the Minister came to the House to answer questions I asked during an Adjournment debate he stated the reason for the closure of these stations and for turning full-time Garda stations into part-time stations was to free up Garda resources. He stated there would be no significant monetary savings. He assured me there would be no issues with prisoner transfers and that prisoners would be detained in part-time Garda stations. I have since found out that from 30 April, Malahide Garda station-----