The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, stated last week that he intended to leave a legacy. While there is no doubt that he will be remembered, unfortunately, it will be for all the wrong reasons.

A new Garda Commissioner was appointed two days ago. Despite being an insider, we have been promised that she will sweep the Garda clean. Somehow or other, the Commissioner saw nothing when so many penalty points were being quashed.

The Senator's comment is not fair to the Garda Commissioner's reputation. She is not here to defend herself.

These issues were raised at the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality with the Commissioner present.

She is not here to defend herself.

She would be most welcome if she were to come to the House to defend herself.

The Senator must withdraw his remark.

I have ruled on the matter. Does Senator Mark Daly have a question for the Leader?

As I stated, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, wishes to leave a legacy, but he will make his mark for all the wrong reasons. The housing plan announced yesterday was a reannouncement of previous plans. It is, to a large degree, a work of fiction. The Health Service Executive's service plan which will be published today will also largely be a work of fiction.

Hans Christian Andersen would have been proud of it because the plan is way different from the reality. The reality we see on the ground is exemplified by the report of the Coroner's Court in Limerick, as detailed in today's newspapers. A critically ill man was brought to the accident and emergency department of Limerick University Hospital, but he never saw a doctor before he died. That is the reality. What we also see in emergency departments is paramedics arriving with patients on stretchers and having to stay there for hours before overworked doctors can take the patients off their hands. The ambulances involved are not available during that time because the system is not working. Today there are 800 patients in hospitals, taking up beds, who should not be there. They are there because the fair deal scheme has been cut. Whatever about the plan which is a work of fiction to a large degree , the reality is entirely different. In County Kerry the scandal-----

The Senator should not display newspapers in the Chamber.

There are no service plans.

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

I ask the Leader to organise a debate on the HSE's service plan. I will not push the matter to a vote on the Order of Business today because the plan has only been published, but we should have a debate on it next week to see how real it is.

I know that a debate is scheduled for today on the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East, but I ask the Leader to invite the Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, to the House, as the first ever spokesperson on the Irish overseas and the diaspora, to discuss President Obama's executive order. Some of the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States will be assisted by it, but I ask the Leader to encourage the Government to ensure that funding is made available to the Irish centres throughout the United States. The Aisling Irish Community Centre in New York does great work, as do the Irish pastoral centres in Boston and San Francisco. However, they need assistance and funding. I ask the Leader to urge the Government to look for a humanitarian visa for those who are not covered by the executive order in order that they would be able to come home at times of bereavement. I would also like to see waivers being granted to those who have violated the terms of their visas in the past.

I thank the Leader and the Deputy Leader for facilitating the passing of a motion relating to Cumann na mBan. It is non-Government motion No. 8 on the Order Paper and I wish to move it today.

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?

Yes. I propose that non-Government motion No. 8 on the Order Paper be taken today.

I welcome the appointment of Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan as Garda Commissioner, following her recommendation by the Public Appointments Service as the only suitable candidate. It is important to note that there was an open and transparent recruitment and appointment process. As well as welcoming her appointment, it is also important that we all support her in the ongoing important work of reforming An Garda Síochána. We are all very conscious, after this year in particular, of the need for reform. I know that the new Commissioner has given a commitment to ongoing reform. In that context, I ask the Leader for a debate on policing reform, specifically in the light of the recent Garda Inspectorate report which threw up particular questions around the recording of crime statistics, which I have raised in the House previously. Perhaps we might have that debate in the new year.

I very much welcome yesterday's announcement by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, of the social housing strategy. Whatever grudging comments may be made about it by the Opposition, it is hugely important. It is a legacy issue which the Government is dealing with. The reality is that during the boom years, there was almost no investment in social housing. The real scandal is that when the money was available to build social housing units and when waiting lists were actually climbing before 2011, there was almost no social housing being built. That is the real scandal which is often neglected in the discussions about the need for housing and the homelessness figures. The strategy announced by the Minister yesterday is a very real and ambitious programme to ensure that we deliver on social housing for those who need it. What he has proposed is 35,000 new social housing units to be delivered over six years, by 2020. He is putting forward €3.8 billion, most of which is direct Government funding, to meet the costs of building, acquiring and leasing these 35,000 units. While it is very ambitious, it is achievable. I urge all Members to read the strategy which sets out very clear pathways or methods of working to ensure delivery of the plan. It is ambitious, admittedly, but it is dealing with a legacy of neglect of this area and the failure, over successive years, of previous Governments to deliver social housing for those who needed it. That, as I have said, is the real scandal of the housing and homelessness problem. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on the issue in due course. It would be advisable to allow some time to see the strategy begin to be operational. Perhaps in a couple of months we might review the strategy and discuss its implementation. It is entirely good news which must be welcomed, in fairness, by Members on all sides of the House.

I welcome another good news item in the context of legal change, namely, the proposed changes to the adoption laws. Proposals have been brought forward for changes to the adoption laws to enable, in particular, children who are in long-term foster care to be adopted. Up until now, as colleagues will be aware, only a tiny number of such children have been eligible for adoption because of the highly restrictive nature of the adoption laws. Once we see the children's rights referendum decision being delivered, which I understand is imminent, the way will be cleared for legislation to enable the adoption of an estimated 2,000 of the 6,000 children in care. That will give these children legal security. It will also give legal security to their foster parents who may have been caring for them in loco parentis, for many years.