Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know the issue of the ongoing crisis and civil war in Syria has been raised in the House. Could we arrange a debate with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade? I state my support for his stance on the issue. It is a very dangerous situation where certain countries are looking to arm rebel groups, but this will only exacerbate the problem. The Tánaiste was very strong in his statements on this issue a number of weeks ago. However, we need to tease out this issue further. I would not support in any shape or form arming rebel groups in Syria. The Seanad might provide an opportunity for the Tánaiste to bring us up to date on the progress that has been made at EU level in dealing with the conflict.

Tomorrow the Government will announce the new code of conduct on mortgage arrears. We argued vociferously against this on the basis that the Government was also bringing forward the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill which would effectively allow open season on those in mortgage arrears by closing the loophole in respect of home repossessions. I remind the House that over 145,000 mortgages on principal private residences are in arrears. The figure is up by over 50,000 in the two years since the Government took office. In that time we have seen certain initiatives such as the Government advising the banks, including the two pillar banks, that they should be looking at other measures, with which I agree. However, out of between 145,000 and 150,000 mortgages in arrears, we have only seen 52 split mortgages. We have also seen the abject failure of the mortgage-to-rent scheme. I will use the debate this afternoon with the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to discover what is being done in that area in which most local authorities will not even operate the scheme. We are continuing to sleepwalk into a deeper crisis. After the new code of conduct on mortgage arrears is published tomorrow, I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on it some time next week. I have called for a broad debate on mortgage resolution measures for which there has been broad agreement, but I would like us to debate in a constructive way the new code of conduct when it is published.

During a debate on capital investment on 22 November 2011 I raised with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the issue of the greater Dublin drainage scheme, on which the Government proposed to spend over €1 billion. In the light of such massive capital expenditure by the taxpayer, I asked him at the very least to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of the scheme. He twice gave me an undertaking that he would have the matter investigated, but he has since refused to do so. He would not take an Adjournment debate on it last week with my colleague Senator Averil Power. The people of the greater Dublin area but of north Dublin, in particular, deserve much better. I, therefore, ask the Leader to use his good offices to follow up on the commitment given to me by the Minister on 22 November 2011 that he would ensure the expenditure on this project would be investigated. A sum of €1 billion or more is not a small amount of money. I, therefore, ask the Leader to raise the matter with the Minister.