Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like the Leas-Chathaoirleach, I have just come from the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly which has been in session for the past two or three days. One of the matters discussed over the weekend was the whole issue of spatial planning. I raised in particular at the assembly the matter of marine spatial planning and indicated to the members from the various jurisdictions that this very day in the Seanad we would have a presentation on that topic. I thank the Leader for organising the debate at relatively short notice, it having been requested only the week before last. Marine spatial planning is very important and presents a real opportunity for us to work in close co-operation and in synergy with the authorities and local councils in Northern Ireland. Fishing boundaries are not fixed at particular points and there are a whole range of issues to discuss regarding oceans and the marine. While we will have a greater debate on this later, I thank the Leader again for organising that debate this evening.

I turn to the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016, on which we had a great discussion recently. We have to maintain our focus. As a result of the revelations a few weeks ago in this context, which I will not rehearse here, it is clear that people want an absolute right to know their forename, surname, where they were born and what their history has been. The Bill is an important one and we should not lose focus regarding it. I ask the Leader to come back to the House in the coming days to provide Members with an update on the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 and how it will be progressed. We should not be deviated from addressing it. The Minister is committed to enacting the legislation notwithstanding the fact that there are issues. I would like to hear more about it.

Senator Ardagh referred to the data and it is clear that we have a serious housing and homelessness crisis. While things are being done, they cannot happen fast enough. That is the problem for everyone. The time has come for an independent body to validates the housing figures. There are 31 local authorities providing different figures on which the Minister relies.We have the homeless executive and other agencies dealing with housing and homelessness. We have to work off one standard matrix database. There is now a case to be made to have independently validated housing figures from which we can all work for all 31 local authorities. Nobody has a monopoly on the issues of housing and homelessness in terms of policy. We are all committed across the Houses to do something about it. If we have a greater understanding of the exact figures, which would be independently validated, it may help us in these debates.