Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We now have more doctors in the system than at any time in the history of the State. I have no difficulty with having a debate on health and I am sure the Leader will facilitate it when possible.

I am very happy we passed the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill through the Seanad last night. The Bill will introduce a deposit protection scheme for tenants and a rent-freeze period. These are important measures which will take some of the heat out of the currently over-heated rental market and improve security for tenants. However, the issue of supply of housing remains to be addressed. We will not be going back to business as usual any time soon and basing our rental sector on accidental landlords and people who got into the sector with the intention of making capital gains. Some of the REITs and other commercial companies that have moved into the sector are not remotely interested in providing housing for low income families. Social housing will address some aspects of the issue but the issue is a wider one. We need a debate on the more extensive issue of housing supply and the wider reform of the private rental sector. I ask the Leader to arrange the debate, particularly in view of the passing of the legislation.

I welcome the announcement by Irish Water this morning that it intends to spend more than €2 billion between now and 2021 solving the waste water treatment problem. Like everyone here, I was shocked by the Environmental Protection Agency's report that said there were 45 locations in the country where sewage waste was being pumped directly into the water. Had I known when I was sitting on Duncannon beach in Wexford last summer that it was one of the beaches affected I would not have been so happy. This issue, which shows the justification for having an overarching agency dealing with something as important as water, has to be addressed.

I support the Tánaiste's call for openness and transparency in terms of the earnings of CEOs in any organisation, and not just NGOs, that receives State support.