Senator O'Brien asked about the Betting (Amendment) Bill. The Department of Finance needs to engage in further consultation with the European Commission on this Bill. It is most likely that it will be late next month before Committee Stage is scheduled. In any event, I have no intention of rushing this Bill through the House. The Second Stage of the Bill will be taken in the House today and, if not concluded today, will be resumed next week.

Senators Darragh O'Brien, Mooney, Leyden, Conway, Paul Coghlan, Healy Eames, Walsh, Crown and others, raised the issue of appointments to State boards. All appointments to State boards have been completed. Those appointed are very well qualified, including the person to whom speakers alluded yesterday when the Minister came to the House. The Minister outlined the qualifications of the gentleman in question. In my opinion he is well qualified for the position and for the cultural and educational panel.

Can I ask the Leader-----

The Leader without interruption.

One should not believe everything one reads in the papers. It has been suggested that in addition to the chairpersons of State boards being examined by Oireachtas joint committees that every member appointed would be vetted by the Oireachtas committee in question. I will put that suggestion to the Government. There will certainly be a queue for appointment to committees. If this is the view I will put that suggestion to the Government for its consideration.

Senators Hayden and Bradford raised the issue of housing. Senator Hayden made the point that in recent weeks several trade unions have called for rent control measures. She spoke about the need for imaginative policies to combat housing shortages. Senator Bradford said that housing should be regarded as a social rather than an economic need. He spoke about the need for a programme of house building with a good social mix. I have asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, to come to the House as he is responsible for housing. He has indicated he will come to the House before the end of October for a comprehensive debate on the issue.

Senator Barrett asked for a debate on the changes in the Northern Ireland Assembly. He welcomed the appointment of Jim Wells who is a member of the British Irish Parliamentary Association. Senators Naughton and Conway condemned the practice of gazumping. We can have that debate when the Minister comes to the House.

Senator Moran asked for a debate on soccer hooliganism and the back to school costs. She referred to the survey on school uniforms. I will bring this to the attention of the Minister for Education and Science.

Senator Cullinane asked for a debate on the water charges and the Water Services Bill. The Government's priority is to make water charges as fair and as affordable as possible. The average bill will be €240 per year, as promised. The charge for water will include a free household allowance of 30,000 litres per year. It was always planned that children will go free. There will be a further allowance for households with children which will mean that water charges do not apply to them. We have also provided allowances for other vulnerable groups. A person living alone will have approximately 40% of his or her water needs provided by the allowance and the cost for such persons will be approximately €138 per year or less than 50 cent per day.

Financial assistance of €100 per year will also be provided to those in need who are eligible for the household benefits package, pensioners, carers and recipients of disability payments.

That is a draft-----

The Senator asked for an answer, which I am giving.

It is a draft.

Thankfully, the Senator is here to listen to the answer, because when I gave it previously he was not here.

I am looking for a debate.

The Leader without interruption.

I was here, actually.

Charges will be capped for people who have high water usage due to certain medical conditions.

The Senator should answer the questions he was asked.

I am giving the Senator the answers to the questions he asked.

No, he is not.

The Leader without interruption.

That is a draft for consultation.

These reforms are essential-----

The Leader without interruption.

The Senator obviously does not like what he is hearing, like his colleague in the other House yesterday in the context of Sinn Féin's lunatic policies on the economy.

The lunatic policies come from the Senator's party.

These reforms are essential for the future provision of high-quality water services following decades of a fragmented approach by Fianna Fáil Governments which have left us with a broken water system, as we all know. A total of 23,500 people are on boil-water notices, 40% of our water supply is lost to leakage, 16% of our water supplies are at risk, which affects more than one million people, and one-third of secondary wastewater treatment plants had inadequate effluent standards in 2012. There is virtually no spare supply capacity in Dublin, which threatens job creation. The establishment of Irish Water as a single utility company to replace the current 34 separate water authorities will result in more co-ordinated investment and improve water quality nationwide.

Fianna Fáil had one policy on water charges-----

That is not true.

That was the original deal with the troika, which would have resulted in an annual charge of €400 from last year, with no allowances for anybody.

That is not true.

As regards Sinn Féin, water is already charged for indirectly in Northern Ireland as part of the domestic rates regime, which includes a property tax. Sinn Féin recently deferred the introduction of direct charges for water until 2016.

There are no water charges in Northern Ireland, as the Leader well knows.

An average of €950 per household in domestic rates in Northern Ireland is already far in excess of the equivalent in the South.

Perhaps the Leader should stand in elections to the Assembly.

Allow the Leader to answer questions that have been raised on the Order of Business.

This is as comprehensive an answer as I can give. Obviously the answer is not going down well with Sinn Féin, because it does not want to hear the answers to the questions.

The Sinn Féin vote went up, not down like that of the Senator's party.

Sinn Féin does not want the policies it advocates pointed out.

Fine Gael got its answer in the local elections in Waterford.

The Leader without interruption.

Fine Gael will get it again in the general election.

Can we have the Leader without interruption?

We believe in democracy and listening to people. I have listened to everybody, but obviously the Senator wants to interrupt because he does not like what he hears.

I asked for a debate, which we are obviously not going to get.

Can we have the Leader without interruption?

Senator White spoke about the WHO report on suicide and made very important points. I am providing answers to some people who asked questions and then left the House, so they did not even show the courtesy of waiting for a reply. This is the case for quite a number of people on both sides of the House this morning and on many other occasions, but I will reply to Senator White. The Government is, of course, concerned by the recent data about the level of suicide in Ireland. Preventing suicide is a priority for the Government and, since coming to office, it has increased funding to this very sensitive area. The programme for Government contained a commitment of a special allocation of €35 million in 2012 and 2013, primarily to strengthen community mental health teams in both adult and children's mental health services and to further develop suicide prevention initiatives. The allocation of €20 million in ring-fenced funding in 2014 sought to strengthen and consolidate progress, and there has been an additional investment of €90 million in the past three years. Most of the recommendations in Reach Out: Irish National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention 2005-2014 have been implemented. A new framework document for suicide prevention for the period from 2015 to 2018 is being developed, and this will build on the current strategy. The objective is to have this framework completed by the end of the year and to reflect on the WHO report, as Senator White mentioned. A total of 890 posts were provided to develop our community mental health services in 2012 and 2013. With €17 million invested, more than 748, or 83%, of these posts are now in place, with the remaining posts at different stages of HSE recruitment or approval.

In budget 2014, the Government again committed to the continuation of the development of our mental health services in these extremely challenging times. This means that despite the serious resource pressures overall, funding of €90 million has been made available from 2012 to the end of 2014 which has been specifically earmarked for mental health and suicide prevention. The allocation of €20 million in ring-fenced funding in 2014 will enable the HSE to continue to develop and modernise our mental health services in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change and will allow for the further recruitment of between 250 and 280 additional staff to further enhance our adult community mental health teams, our child and adolescent mental health teams and specialist mental health teams. That is a comprehensive update in respect of mental health services, which is a matter that has been raised in the House on several occasions.

Senators Colm Burke and Michael Mullins spoke about the importance of keeping our junior doctors and the problems associated with the EU working time directive. Senator Burke also raised the question of the employment of dieticians and argued that there should be a requirement for them to visit nursing homes, which does not pertain at present. I will certainly bring that matter to the attention of the Minister.

Senator Quinn spoke about the use of high-tech methods, eliminating the need for tax, NCT, insurance discs and so on, the advances that are being made in other countries, and the need for us to embrace this change.

Senator Jim Walsh spoke about early intervention in respect of children with special needs. These points were made by his Leader and other Members in the House yesterday on the Order of Business.

Senator Bradford spoke about the housing crisis. Senator Crown spoke about the significant increase in hospital waiting lists, as mentioned in one of the newspapers this morning, and the need for meaningful reforms of the health service and a timescale for reform. Finally, Senator O'Sullivan spoke about the online newspaper business and the need for identification of people making comments about other people. I share the Senator's concerns in this regard and I think a debate on the question of the media, which we promised some months ago, is probably overdue.

I do not propose to accept the amendments to the Order of Business.

May I ask the Leader to take a question?

The Senator is too late. We are on the amendments now.

It is not a Standing Order. I cannot quote a Standing Order for a point of order, but there is a point of information. I would like to know whether the Leader-----

There is no provision for a point of information unless it is a point of order.

For the record, my question remains unanswered.