Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator O'Brien raised the Social Welfare Bill. I do not have the exact date but it will come before the House in the next number of weeks. While the Bill will deal with the increases in child benefit and so on announced in the budget, it may be an opportunity for the Senator to raise the plight of deferred benefit pensioners which he, Senator Power and also many Fine Gael and Labour Members have raised with the Minister. The Minister is examining that at present and it is hoped some resolution to the plight of these pensioners can be found.

The Senator also called for a national policy on defibrillators, with which I would agree. Senator Quinn brought forward a Bill on the provision of defibrillators, which was supported in this House on Second Stage. A subsequent Health Information and Quality Authority report suggested that a nationwide roll-out of defibrillators would be very expensive but suggestions were made that CPR training could be given in transition year, which is happening in some schools. That could be established. I agree that we should have a national policy on defibrillators. It is a matter the Senator can raise with the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, when he comes to the House in early course.

Senator O'Keeffe and Senator Leyden called on the Government to deal with the anomalies that have arisen with regard to water charges for low income families. I assure the Senators that will be addressed. They also welcomed the One Young World Summit, about which Senator Noone spoke on the Order of Business yesterday.

Senator O'Keeffe spoke about the legacy of the special investigation unit in the Department of Agriculture and called for a debate on that. I would hope the agriculture committee would call the Minister before it for a debate on that issue. It is probably the most appropriate forum for such a debate but I agree with the Senator that the debate should take place. It is not just a case of abolishing the special investigation unit. We must examine the legacy issue and the families affected as a result of its actions.

Senator Barrett, Senator Jim D'Arcy and other Senators called for a further debate on Irish Water. I have asked the Minister to come into the House. I do not have a date but I will continue to ask him to come into the House and have that debate with us.

Senator Barrett also spoke on the need to expedite the housing programme and the problem of homelessness, which was raised by Senator Ó Clochartaigh also. The Government has allocated €2.2 billion, an unprecedented amount, to the housing programme but I understand the Minister will make a further announcement next week on additional measures to tackle homelessness. We should await that, and I believe there will be further good news. It is regrettable, however, that in the boom years, which was a time of plenty where the economy was concerned, no heed was paid to social housing.