I thank the Leader for facilitating the statements on Aer Lingus. It is only half an hour, but it is a start, and I will talk about that in a minute.

On my own behalf and on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group in the Seanad, I condemn the protest, for want of a better phrase, that President Higgins was confronted with and the abuse that was hurled at him.

Thugs.

It is a disgrace. President Higgins is our Head of State. These people, who were, apparently, protesting on behalf of workers, what they said to him and the manner in which they went about their protest was disgusting and despicable. The President represents all the people of Ireland, as a custodian of our Constitution. He had no choice but to sign the water services legislation. That is his role. Even more galling is the fact that Members of the other House, Deputy Paul Murphy included, would see fit to justify that behaviour.

Hear, hear.

No, they did not.

He did.

He did not. He condemned the language.

Order. Senator O'Brien without interruption.

The only language he condemned was the use of the phrase referring to the President as "a midget". That was it. He did not ask anybody to withdraw calling him "a parasite" or anything like that. If Senator Norris was Uachtarán na hÉireann today - fair play to him for standing in the election campaign - I would expect the same respect and courtesy to be shown to him, or to whoever the President might be.

Absolutely.

I just want this on the record, but am not here to debate the issue with Senator Norris, for whom I have great regard. What is happening in this State is a disgrace. I am talking as someone who voted against the Water Services Bill. All of us have different views on this issue, but that is not the way to protest. Certainly, crossing a line through that type of protest against the President and Head of State is a dangerous line to cross and is not acceptable. The Seanad should say with one voice that it is not acceptable.

We discussed Aer Lingus on the Order of Business yesterday and I welcome the fact the Minister will be in the House for half an hour today and welcome the contributions made by Members from all sides yesterday. This is a serious situation for the company, the country and for Ireland in general in regard to our connectivity with Heathrow and job security. I agree with what Senator Whelan said yesterday, that the Seanad should speak as one voice on this. It should state that as far as it is concerned, the Government should not sell its stake of 25.1% in Aer Lingus and should protect Ireland's strategic interest. With that in mind, I ask Members to look at my motion, which does not condemn the Government or anything like that. No. 60, motion No. 14, proposes:

That Seanad Éireann calls on the Government to reject the IAG/British Airways bid to purchase Aer Lingus and believes that the Government should retain its 25.1% stake in the company so as to protect Ireland's strategic interests and to support job retention in Aer Lingus.

I intend to move an amendment to the Order of Business to have this motion taken before No. 1. It would be advantageous if the Seanad accepted that motion in advance of the Minister coming to the House, because it would show that the Seanad stands as one against the sale of the 25.1% stake the Government holds in Aer Lingus.

To clarify, is that to come before No. 1?

Yes. In regard to the new Central Bank rules published on mortgages, I welcome to some degree the slight change the Central Bank has made in regard to a 10% deposit on mortgages up to €220,000. However, I believe that 20% for mortgages above that is far too restrictive, particularly in urban areas. In Dublin, for example, look at what we are asking first-time buyers to save, although I acknowledge it is less than the full 20%. Look for example at people who are trying to upgrade, such as people stuck in apartments who want to buy houses. These people are not deemed first-time buyers and the full 20% requirement for them is far too much. I ask the Leader to schedule a debate on this issue. I understand the Minister will bring forward legislation to copper fasten the proposal and that is probably the time for debate. Does the Leader have any indication of when that might be?

I concur with Senator O'Brien in his condemnation of the nature of the protests against President Michael D. Higgins. Any democrat should join in condemning those protests, which are clearly unacceptable. As Uachtarán na hÉireann, the President represents all of the people of Ireland, at both national and international level, and should be above politics. Most fair-minded people recognise this. To my memory, there has not been a protest of this nature against any President about any aspect of Government policy, nor is it appropriate there would be. People have a right to protest, but to protest peacefully. This protest did not fall within that realm and should be condemned.

I welcome the change in the Order of Business to enable a debate today on the potential takeover offer for Aer Lingus. I have made my position clear, that I oppose any sale of the Government's 25% stake in Aer Lingus. As the record would show, the Labour Party opposed the privatisation of most of Aer Lingus by Fianna Fáil in 2006.

I also ask the Leader to provide for a debate on the new Central Bank rules on mortgages, which I expect will be forthcoming in the near future. I welcome the relaxation of the 20% deposit requirement for first-time buyers. As Patrick Honohan said yesterday, first-time buyers were not the problem. It is also worth welcoming the additional restrictions on buy-to-let buyers and investors, whose investments have been seen as more of a problem in creating the bubble. It is good to see the Central Bank distinguishing between categories of buyers taking out mortgages. However, many of us still have concerns about overly onerous restrictions, particularly on first-time buyers in Dublin where the €220,000 limit is low. I accept they are subject to only 10% on that. It is good to see some flexibility built into the system, but perhaps we could debate whether there should be more.

I welcome the passage yesterday of the motion on the establishment of the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes. More Senators, including myself, wanted to speak on that issue, but the debate finished somewhat prematurely. The way that happened was unfortunate, that through nobody's fault, there were not enough speakers in the Chamber at the time. The appointment of Judge Yvonne Murphy to chair the commission is welcome and I welcome the other eminent commissioners, Professors William Duncan and Mary Daly. I wish them well with their important work of inquiring into this scandal from our past.

This is European cervical cancer prevention week and Cervical Check and the IFPA have joined together in launching a campaign to make women more aware of the need for cervical checks. All the women Members have been sent some information on this issue and I hope the male Members have too. The campaign is entitled the Pearl of Wisdom campaign and the social media campaign can be accessed via the hashtag #ShareTheWisdom. I wish to support this.