The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on the participation by Irish Defence Forces personnel in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, mission on the Golan Heights, to be taken at 1 p.m. and conclude not later than 1.45 p.m., with the contributions of all Senators not to exceed five minutes; No. 2, Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 - Committee Stage (resumed), to be taken at 3 p.m. and adjourned not later than 5 p.m., if not previously concluded; and No. 55, Private Members' business, motion No. 9 re arts and culture sector, to be taken at 5 p.m., with the time allocated for the debate not to exceed two hours.

One point of clarification on No. 1: does it refer to Senators or spokespersons?

Spokespersons.

Everyone will agree that we are very proud of the Defence Forces and the force reserve company that has returned from a difficult mission in the Golan Heights. I am delighted that they have all returned safely. I commend the men and women of the reserve company for their bravery during their tour of duty in the past six months. While there will be only a short debate or statements, it is important that this be recognised. This is only one example, by the way, of how the Defence Forces and front-line services, including the Garda, have performed on United Nations peacekeeping duty in recent decades. This should focus the Government's mind on supporting our Defence Forces as much as possible. I welcome them back and I am glad everyone has returned safely. On behalf of my group, I commend them all for the bravery they showed during the tour of duty.

Several weeks ago we debated at length the State Airports (Shannon Group) Bill 2014. I reminded colleagues at the time that it was the first time any Government had moved to legislate for a private pension scheme, namely, the Irish aviation superannuation scheme. I imagine all Members have received detailed correspondence from retired members of the scheme, whose group, the Retired Aviation Staff Association, does a fantastic job in representing them, as well as the deferred pensioners group. On the basis of what the Government has passed in the Parliament, they will have a loss to their potential pensions of between 48% and 55%.

I am keen to correct the record of the House. In fairness, the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, and many of the Government Senators have been corresponding with people who got in contact with them about their livelihoods, their quality of life and the fact that their pensions are going to be halved under the Government's proposals. The Tánaiste and the Government are putting out the message that the expert panel engaged extensively, in particular, with the deferred members group, which comprises 5,000 people and their families. It did not. The expert panel set up by the Government did not engage extensively in any way, particularly in respect of the deferred pensioners. I know that Senator Ivana Bacik has responded in a recent e-mail to Mr. John Murphy in this regard. She sent on a detailed response. I acknowledge the fact that the Senator responded to him, but I call on her to go back and check the facts. That is not particularly a point against the Senator, but rather against the Government.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport will have to sign two commencement orders to tear asunder the scheme and the promised pension benefits of the people concerned who have worked for 35 or 36 years and had been expecting pensions. They paid into the scheme on a compulsory basis. On the basis of these proposals they will now have their pensions reduced by 50%. If that were to happen in this House, there would be a furore. People would go crazy about any idea involving such massive reductions in pensions. We debated the matter at length at the time.

I call on the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection at this late stage to consider bringing forward amendments to reduce the level of reduction for deferred and retired members. Let us not forget that many of the retired members have no ability to earn additional pay. Many of these individuals are in their late 60s, 70s or 80s and have paid into the scheme for years. This is not a solution. During the years and under successive Governments the scheme was used as a vehicle and an incentive for people to retire early. It is proven now that the scheme could not afford to take the hit it has taken. People have paid into the scheme for 30 or 35 years. This is the first time the Government has legislated to reduce benefits in a private pension scheme. In this regard, we need to know what the Tánaiste and the Government are doing. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to the effect that the Tánaiste come to the House for one hour to explain whether she is open to or will move further amendments to the scheme under the social welfare Bill to reduce the savage level of reductions proposed by the Government. It is only reasonable that she come to the House and correct the record in respect of what her officials are telling her party members.

The Senator is way over time.

I am formally proposing an amendment to the Order of Business.

I thank the Leader for arranging the debate today on participation by Irish Defence Forces personnel in the UNDOF mission on the Golan Heights. I have just come from a meeting of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, at which the Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney, briefed members on the participation of Defence Forces personnel in the Golan Heights mission. I add my voice to those of others in commending those in the Defence Forces who only returned late last night from their six month tour of duty, who were responsible for extremely brave and heroic actions in August. They assisted in the safe extraction of 58 members of the Philippine battalion who had been attacked by rebels and, on 30 August, they extracted 35 Filipino troops from a position surrounded by rebels. The Minister went into considerable detail with the committee on the circumstances of the rescue of the Filipino troops. All of us should commend the 44th Battalion which was involved in those rescues. Moreover, we should all send our best wishes to the members of the 46th Infantry group who were sent out at 6.30 a.m. yesterday for a further six month tour of duty following a review of the mission by the Minister and at UN level. There is major concern about the escalation of tensions in the area.

We had a good debate last night on the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill. In the course of the debate we discussed briefly the situation in Syria, particularly the appalling circumstances of the siege of the town of Kobani, which, it appears, may fall to the rebels from ISIS, or the Islamic State group. We spoke about the barbarism and brutality of the people in that group and the need for those of us in Europe to ensure we took steps to prevent the recruitment of foreign fighters by these groups in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. I thank the Leader for arranging that debate.

I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on an Amnesty International report published today - I attended the launch earlier - on economic, social and cultural rights. The report, Bringing ESC Rights Home, examines how economic, social and cultural, ESC, rights and obligations may be applied to budgetary policy and recommends that the Government establish a minimum level of protection for all such rights. We had a good debate on the issue at the Constitutional Convention. On foot of that debate, there was a strong majority recommendation from the convention that the Government should give constitutional protection to ESC rights. The report from Amnesty International is part of a process of seeking to ensure greater protection for them.

In advance of next week's budget the ESRI has also recommended that we see investment by the Government in social housing, given the strong growth figures for this year and predicted for next year. I suggest to the Leader that we have a debate broadly on ESC rights, Amnesty International's report and the report of the Constitutional Convention.