I wish to be associated with the expression of sympathy to John O’Connell, a former Member of this House and former Ceann Comhairle, and to Enda Marren, a former member of the Council of State. The protocol is that the House will be afforded an opportunity to have expressions of sympathy later, after an appropriate length of time following a proposal of the Leader. I now call the Leader to reply.

Senator Leyden, the acting leader of the Opposition this afternoon, raised a number of parochial items relating to Roscommon. I remind him that, as he well knows, the hours of opening of the Garda headquarters is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. He also inquired about the agricultural offices in Roscommon.

I will inquire of the Minister but if the Senator put that down as an Adjournment matter, he would get the exact answer he is seeking.

Senator Bacik asked about Guthrie cards, which have been mentioned on the Order of Business on several occasions. I agree there is a need for the HSE to inform parents of their rights. I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister and will try to secure more information for parents and the public.

Senator Mullen called for a debate on surrogacy and the recent court case. The judgment is ground-breaking and the wisest counsel at this stage is to study it carefully and reflect on its implications. The Minister for Justice and Equality is preparing a new Bill that will address certain aspects of the law on surrogacy and hopes to publish the family relationships and children Bill later this year.

Senator Mullins raised the comments made by Ms Louise Phelan, the CEO of PayPal, about the attitude of some of our young people. We will have a debate on the jobs action plan in the near future and he can address those remarks to the Minister then.

Senator O'Donovan asked about the cable car to Dursey Island. Fewer than ten people live on the island but the cable car is of paramount importance for those people. The Senator mentioned to me that he would table this as an Adjournment matter if we did not get a proper reply from the Minister so I will ask the Minister to take that matter if we cannot elicit sufficient information.

Senator Moran raised the conditions in the children's hospital, particularly the lack of space and facilities for both children and parents. The Minister and everyone else would agree there is a need to maintain good standards in all children's hospitals until the new children's hospital is built. I will relay her comments to the Minister.

Senator Barrett asked about the CAO and said it is an equitable system. We should have a debate on it soon so we can discuss the recent proposals with the Minister.

Senator Paul Coghlan raised the property tax, and a number of other questions were asked about it. Fianna Fáil is cynically hypocritical on this issue. Its deceitful approach to the property tax is that when in government, before the arrival of the troika, in its national recovery plan, published in November 2010, it planned to introduce a property tax in 2012 and to raise €530 million from it in 2013.

That was only a draft.

What does the Fine Gael manifesto say?

Can we have the Leader without interruption?

Is that the Leader's only defence?

We must have the Leader without interruption or I will have to adjourn the sitting.

I am not talking about the previous Government. I am talking about a failure to hold the current Government to account. Let us look at the Fine Gael manifesto. What does it say?

The Senator had his turn on stage.

Put the people first. Put the banks first, that is what the Secretary General said. He said it with the backing of the current Government. The poor people.

They are poor because of 14 years of Fianna Fáil.

Later in 2010, Fianna Fáil, in its negotiations with the IMF, which it did not tell anyone about, agreed to the introduction of a property tax before the end of 2011 and to increase it by 2012. Now, however, the party claims it is not the time to introduce a property tax.

The Senator's party would have introduced it in 2010 or 2011.

The Taoiseach stated the Government would deal with the mortgage crisis.

The Senator's comments are hypocritical but that is nothing new-----

We put forward legislation and the Government side voted against it.

-----to Fianna Fáil, as we all know. Thankfully, the electorate also knew about Fianna Fáil's hypocrisy at the previous election.

As regards Sinn Féin's position on the property tax, as I noted last week, Sinn Féin is opposing the introduction of a fair and progressive property tax.

The Leader is losing it.

It does not seem to have any problem with a property tax in Northern Ireland where the average household pays £1,000 in domestic rates.

What about the services householders receive in return?

Please allow the Leader to continue without interruption.

How do people pay their rates? Do they have a means of avoiding paying £1,000?

What services do people in the North get in return and what do people here get for the property tax?

On that issue and the issue raised by Senators Mullen and Ó Murchú, Sinn Féin has one policy in Northern Ireland and another policy down here.

On a point of order, the Leader is misrepresenting the policy of my party. We have a consistent policy in the North and South. The Leader should read our policy documents.

That is not a point of order. Senator Ó Clochartaigh should resume his seat.

Perhaps the Leader will invite the First Minister to the House.

I took a position on both these matters but the Leader left me out.