It is nice to have one's learned colleague interrupting. A day cannot go by without Senator Paul Coghlan interrupting me.

I feel my life will not be complete unless he interrupts me. What we saw yesterday is that the Central Bank is, in effect, giving the banks a charter to evict people. It is amazing how language is used by governments. In war, governments talk about collateral damage. They do not talk about deaths or killing. In a financial crisis or mortgage crisis, they talk about people who will have their homes repossessed. They do not talk about evictions. That is, in effect, what the Government is allowing the banks to do. They talk in percentages, for example, 12% of people are in arrears. That is approximately 95,000 people who are in arrears for 90 days or more. Approximately 50,000 homeowners, people with mortgages, are in arrears of up to 90 days. That is hundreds of thousands of people – our constituents, neighbours and friends – who are in arrears.

We have seen what the banks have done in the past when they were told to engage with small businesses. They were told to give them loans and to meet certain targets. What happened was that they massaged the figures. We all know that small businesses cannot get loans from banks. The banks tell us they are meeting the targets. The Government is now setting new targets for mortgage arrears. We know the banks will massage the figures. We know what happens when governments allow banks to evict people because we have seen it in Spain. Last November the Spanish Government stopped banks evicting people for two years because of the massive increase in suicide.

Does the Senator wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business?

I will do so in a moment. What happened in Spain was that the suicide rate increased because of evictions and the Government intervened. What we are doing is the reverse. We will pass legislation through these Houses which will make it easier for banks to evict people. That will result in an increase in the rate of suicide in this country. Knowing what happened in Spain, why would we allow the same to happen in this country? I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the matter.

Next week we will have the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Unlike the media and others who will lambast Ministers for travelling all over the world, I wish every success to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and all those who are travelling on behalf of the citizens of this country for the promotion of tourism and this country. Perhaps the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs could come to the House on his return because the issue of the undocumented Irish remains unresolved.

The Senator is way over time.

At this stage we need action. We have seen activity, but no action has been taken. The Government failed to engage with the Republican leadership in Congress and we ask the Tánaiste to do so.

The Tánaiste met John Kerry recently.

Senator Mark Daly is way over time.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 11 be taken before No. 1.