I, too, congratulate Senator John Gilroy and hope to be able to attend the launch, subject to the proceedings of the House. I wish him well and commend him for his efforts.

We are giving a commitment that we will not oppose the Order of Business, even though we may wish to do so, because we have a full programme of legislation before us which may run until midnight. It will be an extremely long and busy day. I hope the debate on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013 will be reasoned and tempered and expect no less from this House.

I am deeply concerned about the Government's attitude towards the health service across the country. Yesterday we heard about cutbacks in mental health services. This House has discussed suicide and other important issues. Any cutback to mental health funding is a backwards step and should be resisted. We will return next term with all guns blazing on cutbacks in mental health services and other areas of the health service. I am particularly concerned about the reports that have been acknowledged by the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. It is a frightening statistic that only ten out of 109 public nursing homes meet the new standards set out by HIQA. The Minister of State has acknowledged that it will cost several hundred million euro to rectify the problem. People like Eamon Timmins of Age Action Ireland have called on the Government to ensure HIQA standards are complied with by the 2015 deadline. I urge the Government to act with urgency on this issue. The patients in these nursing homes are primarily elderly. Some are in their 80s or 90s. There was a situation recently in my own area where a small home run by a geriatric association was closed and its 11 elderly occupants faced terrible inconvenience as the health board went about the almost impossible task of finding new accommodation for them. It is appalling that the Government failed to make provision in the last two budgets to make a start on this task. The Minister of State has suggested no home will close, but if they do not meet the standards laid down, will we be running a two tier system? Are the standards for private nursing homes at higher than those applying to public homes? That would be an appalling vista. I urge the Leader to arrange a specific debate in the next term on elderly care and the nursing home debacle. If money has to be spent to ensure the elderly are treated fairly and properly, we must spend it. I am putting the Leader on notice that the issue will be top of our agenda when we return in September. We will be forcing vote after vote on the issue until such time as the Minister of State assures the elderly that they will have a safe home and a proper place in which to live out the rest of their days.

I support Senator Denis O'Donovan's call for a debate at the earliest opportunity in the new term on the issue of elder care and mental health services. The programme for Government pledged to take up the cause of people with mental health issues and to do all we could in this regard. It is only right and proper that we reflect on where we are and how best we can make progress.

I join in the congratulations to Senator John Gilroy on the launch of his book. He has put a lot of work into it and deserves great credit for it. I wish him all the best with his endeavours.

I refer to the issue of the Magdalen laundries and the refusal of the four religious orders to contribute to the compensation fund, as was announced yesterday. I find it extremely disappointing and insulting to the victims of the laundries. As someone who attended a convent school run by one of the religious orders in question, I am deeply disappointed. It is shameful that they have decided their only co-operation will be to provide information, records and care for people who were in their care. This decision is a huge setback. The Government tackled the issue of the Magdalen laundries for the first time and the apology given in the Dáil by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste represented a great day for politics, but we need to do more. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, said on radio this morning that there was no way of insisting on them paying up. I ask the religious orders to reflect on their decision and do the moral thing. I do not think this compensation should be pushed onto the taxpayer. It would be a great day if the religious orders admitted their guilt. Their response has been extremely disappointing. While they have co-operated with the McAleese commission and made progress in respect of the Quirke report, their decision is deeply distressing. I ask that the issue be raised with the relevant Ministers in order that they will put their heads together to get the congregations to pay what rightfully belongs to the survivors of the Magdalen laundries.