That is a breath of fresh air from the Government side.

In the short to medium term, can a debate be arranged on public procurement and the involvement of Irish businesses, in particular indigenous businesses, in State contracts? The reason I ask is that I published a Bill last week which I intend to move in our next Private Members' time. It relates to improving access for Irish businesses to State procurement, both Government and local authority. The State spends approximately €15 billion per year in this area and, in many instances, we make it very difficult for Irish firms to participate. It would be worthwhile to have a debate on that issue.

In the past three years, I have raised the issue of payments to home help workers, which are outstanding. The State has been in breach of two Labour Court recommendations that thousands of home help workers are entitled to a gratuity payment in lieu of pension entitlements. That was confirmed twice by the Labour Court. As I stated, I have raised the issue in the House on a number of occasions and raised it recently with the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar. As many people know, many home help workers are low paid and are on the minimum wage. They are a crucial part of our front-line services. I am pleased to be able to advise the House that after three years, some progress has been made with the new Minister and he has agreed to set up a group which will report in March on how this can be rectified. It is a pity the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, did not move as quickly when he was Minister for Health. However, I am grateful to the current Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, for taking this issue seriously. I will keep the House updated on developments in that regard.

I refer to the primary schools online database. I am a little bit concerned about schools in my area of Fingal. I have been informed that last week, all families were given a green form to complete for the Department of Education and Skills to facilitate the setting up of the primary schools online database. Some parts of the form are optional. However, the Department of Education and Skills requires students' PPS numbers and mothers' maiden names and has indicated that failure to provide them will result in the school not receiving funding. Incomplete forms will be sent back to the parents next week to complete. I understood that an element of the form was optional and that if someone did not give his or her child's PPS number, it would not affect the level of capitation given to a school. However, I have been informed that is exactly what will happen. That is contrary to what the Minister for Education and Skills said only a few weeks ago in the media when concerns were raised about the State holding this information on schoolchildren. I fully understand the need for the database as it allows the State plan for the future. However, some of the information being asked for is not required and hence it should be optional. We are now finding out that some of the optional data sought is important in so far as the school getting capitation grants for these pupils. That is wrong and I do not think that is what is intended. Will the Acting Leader ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to come to the House to explain the situation?

I agree with Senator Darragh O'Brien on the procurement issue. The issue is not so much about SMEs but about micro-businesses, in particular where unreasonable requirements are being placed on them such as insurance requirements and turnover requirements, in bidding for State, semi-State or local authority contracts, or any contract backed by State support. Such a debate would be a worthwhile.

I welcome the announcement of progress in dealing with the situation in Greece. It appears that the Eurogroup of finance Ministers has accepted the Greek proposals and there is a way forward on that, which is good for the European Union as a whole because we all fear a Greek exit from the eurozone.

I bring to the House’s attention that the Supreme Court has rejected the appeal from the member of the Traveller community who alleged discrimination because a Christian Brothers school refused to admit a 14 year old boy. The five member court overturned that case unanimously, not on the issue of whether the child had been discriminated against. Two of the judges reckoned it was outside the court’s remit and three reckoned there was insufficient statistical evidence to demonstrate that the child had been discriminated against. This raises an issue for the members of the Traveller community who made the case very eloquently.

In a separate story, research published today showed that 80% of migrant children are being educated in less than 25% of Irish schools. We are seeing discrimination and a lack of inclusivity in the educational system. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, will bring forward the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2013, which will make it illegal to refuse entry to a student on the grounds of race, religion and disability. Some soft admission rules, such as taking children on the basis that their parents went to the school, enshrine a certain type of privilege. Will the Acting Leader arrange for a debate on this because irrespective of the Supreme Court decision it needs to be brought forward?

I welcome the award of an A grade to the Government for child literacy statistics. This is the first significant recorded improvement in 30 years. I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, on having launched the "Right to Read" campaign which has placed literacy at the heart of the local authority agenda. In budget 2015, €6 million was allocated for the implementation of the national literacy and numeracy strategy bringing the total investment to €13.8 million.