I call Deputy Martin on the Order of Business.

I have a number of items. Will the Taoiseach agree to make time available for the Minister for Justice and Equality to come in to answer questions specifically in regard to the removal of the former Garda Commissioner? In particular, will he make clear, on the record of the House, when he was alerted to the content of the letter sent to him by the former commissioner under section 41 of the 2005 Act?

In other words, at the meeting at 6 p.m. last Monday when he was briefed by his departmental officials, was he alerted to the content of the letter sent to the Secretary General by the Commissioner? We need more time to go through this. When it was timetabled last week, there were no questions on any specific statement last Wednesday morning. It was just a carefully scripted statement but there were no actual questions on that statement and we could do with time for the Minister on that.

In respect of the housing situation, the Taoiseach knows that up to 100,000 families are in arrears as we speak. This is a significant issue in terms of the mortgage arrears crisis. The Secretary General of the Department of Finance said last week that there must be an increase in the availability of social housing. The housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill is committed to. Could the Taoiseach indicate when it will come before the House? Under the programme for Government, the Taoiseach indicated that a staged purchase scheme to increase the stock of social housing would be introduced. Could the Taoiseach bring the Dáil up to date on that? Under this scheme, leased dwellings will revert to the ownership of local authorities and housing associations at the end of the leasehold period. The Taoiseach also said the Government would introduce legislation to enable larger housing associations and local authorities to access private sector funding for social housing by issuing social housing bonds secured on the value of their existing housing stock when market conditions allow. Could the Taoiseach update us as to when this will happen?

The heads of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill were cleared last December and the Bill will be published this session. There is a Private Members' motion of no confidence in the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence this evening. Deputy Martin can listen to the Minister's contribution during that debate. Deputy Martin comes into the House every week and asks for time, which is perfectly legitimate. However, there were an hour and 15 minutes of questions to the Minister for Justice and Equality last Wednesday evening and not one Fianna Fáil Member attended the House.

You asked three questions.

And we got no answers. It was absolute nonsense. We are still waiting for answers.

There are other people who wish to raise issues. Would Deputy Kelleher respect the Chair?

There is a long-standing tradition that one does not refer to Members' absence from this House.

You were all absent.

There are plenty of you absent over there at the moment.

If Members do not want to listen to the Order of Business, I will move on to the next item of business. Member should make up their minds.