Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is great to see the home town of the newly crowned Connacht champions represented here, so I second the Cathaoirleach's welcome to the people from Castlebar.

I note that nine amendments from this House have been accepted by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Paudie Coffey, to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015. Great praise is due to the Minister of State. We had dialogue on Committee Stage and it was important that the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey recognised the role of the Seanad in advising on environmental matters such as climate change. The timing works well because the Paris Conference on environment and climate change, COP 21, will go ahead at the end of this month, despite the problems in Paris, so it is an important item on the Order of Business.

I also note there are some 294 amendments to the Legal Services Regulation Bill, about 240 in the name of the Minister. This shows the important role of the Seanad in the dialogue we have with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald because the Bill will be completely different from the one which was passed by the Dáil due to points raised in this House. It proves the value of having a reviewing chamber in a bicameral system.

I agree with Senator Hayden that organisations which do not publish the pay of their leading people lower themselves in public esteem. We need more openness in our society and some of the organisations which did not respond yesterday do not hesitate to lecture the Oireachtas on how to conduct its duties. Those organisations were remarkably silent when asked to declare the salaries of their executives.

I echo Senator Hayden's call for a debate on housing, if it can be facilitated. No. 47, which has one of those mysterious small numbers referred to by Senator Norris, remains outstanding. It was an attempt to leverage the ability of the Government to borrow money at low cost to help to increase the supply of housing at average or below average prices. That would contrast with the previous regime where the banking inquiry found that 29 people had borrowed €34 billion and sent the bill to the taxpayer. No. 47 is in line with a new way of looking at housing costs at below average and average prices, not lining the pockets of millionaires and billionaires, as happened the last time.