Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This shows the esteem in which he holds Bunreacht na hÉireann and the Oireachtas, but that is a matter for another day. Rather, it is for later today. I am looking forward to it, as I am sure are most of my colleagues on both sides of the House.

Tomorrow, the new code of conduct on mortgage arrears will be published. Will the Leader allow time next week? The schedule in this apparently useless House will be busy next week due to our consideration of legislation, but it is important that we be afforded an opportunity to examine the detail of the new code of conduct. I have not had sight of it, but I hope that it will deal with the real victims, as the Taoiseach terms them, of the economic crisis. Can we set aside time before the end of this session for a reasoned debate and to feed into the code? It is an important step for the thousands of people who are in mortgage arrears. Some 95,550 principal private residences are in arrears, an increase from 92,000 last December. The crisis is getting worse.

Will the Leader bring to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, the fact that I welcomed yesterday the reversal of the cut to resource teaching and hours? The Minister was right to recognise that he had made a mistake and to overturn his decision. However, this is not to forget about the 22,000 children who require special needs assistants, an increase from 20,000 last year. However, the same amount of resources are being provided this year. This amounts to a 10% cut in any language. Will the Leader relay to the Minister our displeasure with this situation and ask him to revert to the Cabinet to reverse that cut as well?