I know the issue of the ongoing crisis and civil war in Syria has been raised in the House. Could we arrange a debate with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade? I state my support for his stance on the issue. It is a very dangerous situation where certain countries are looking to arm rebel groups, but this will only exacerbate the problem. The Tánaiste was very strong in his statements on this issue a number of weeks ago. However, we need to tease out this issue further. I would not support, in any shape or form, arming rebel groups in Syria. The Seanad might provide an opportunity for the Tánaiste to bring us up to date on the progress that has been made at EU level in dealing with the conflict.

Tomorrow the Government will announce the new code of conduct on mortgage arrears. We argued vociferously against this on the basis that the Government was also bringing forward the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill which would effectively allow open season on those in mortgage arrears by closing the loophole in respect of home repossessions. I remind the House that over 145,000 mortgages on principal private residences are in arrears. The figure is up by over 50,000 in the two years since the Government took office. In that time we have seen certain initiatives such as the Government advising the banks, including the two pillar banks, that they should be looking at other measures, with which I agree. However, out of between 145,000 and 150,000 mortgages in arrears, we have only seen 52 split mortgages. We have also seen the abject failure of the mortgage-to-rent scheme. I will use the debate this afternoon with the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to discover what is being done in that area given that most local authorities will not even operate the scheme. We are continuing to sleepwalk into a deeper crisis. After the new code of conduct on mortgage arrears is published tomorrow, I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on it some time next week. I have called for a broad debate on mortgage resolution measures for which there has been broad agreement, but I would like us to debate in a constructive way the new code of conduct when it is published.

During a debate on capital investment on 22 November 2011 I raised with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the issue of the greater Dublin drainage scheme, on which the Government proposed to spend over €1 billion. In the light of such massive capital expenditure by the taxpayer, I asked him at the very least to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of the scheme. He twice gave me an undertaking that he would have the matter investigated, but he has since refused to do so. He would not take an Adjournment debate on it last week with my colleague Senator Averil Power. The people of the greater Dublin area but of north Dublin, in particular, deserve much better. I ask the Leader to use his good offices to follow up on the commitment given to me by the Minister on 22 November 2011 that he would ensure the expenditure on this project would be investigated. A sum of €1 billion or more is not a small amount of money. I ask the Leader to raise the matter with the Minister.

I join Senator Darragh O'Brien in calling for a debate on the situation in Syria. It would be timely to invite the Tánaiste to come to the House to discuss the possible approaches that could be taken to this problem. I share the Tánaiste's view on the danger of arming rebel group in Syria. In the context of the G8 summit, we would all have hoped some international resolution might have been found. Many of us might share the view of the Canadian Premier, Mr. Stephen Harper, on the intransigence of the Russian Government's insistence on backing the Assad regime. There needs to be middle ground between arming the rebels and the unquestioning support Russia and Iran are giving the vicious Assad regime. It is a pity something stronger has not come from the G8 summit in County Fermanagh.

I also call for a debate on homophobia in the context of a law proposed by the Lower House of Parliament in Russia which outlaws LGBT activism and criminalises positive depiction of the lives of gay people. This law has received a great deal of international attention and criticism. It is described as the gay propaganda law and is already law in some Russian regions, but there is a Bill being debated in Russia to make it a national law. I am deeply troubled by this development. I know that many other legislators around the world have expressed their concern about this draconian Bill. It is also a matter for the Council of Europe, given that it has made it clear that it expects member states to protect their LGBT communities against discrimination. There have been good recent developments in Ireland in tackling homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools following initiatives taken by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, and others. It would be good if the Oireachtas, too, could make a strong statement condemning this law.

I welcome the announcement that the Greek broadcaster, ERT, will be back on air following the court ruling that required the government to allow broadcasts to continue. The NUJ in Ireland has been very supportive of the employees of the public broadcaster and condemned the Greek Government's closure of it. I welcome the European Broadcasting Union's assistance for ERT employees in continuing to broadcast, even when the official signal was closed down. We all hope to see a resolution of that issue in a way that will protect the journalists working for ERT.