The Order of Business is No. 1, Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 - Report and Final Stages, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and adjourned not later than 3 p.m., if not previously concluded; and No. 2, Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013 - Committee Stage (resumed), to be taken at 3 p.m. and adjourned not later than 5 p.m., if not previously concluded. For the information of Members, with regard to sitting days, the provisional arrangements are that the Seanad will sit five days in the week beginning, Monday 13 July - the week after next - and two days the following week.

I thank the Leader for outlining the business of the House. There is one point relating to the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015. Only 90 minutes were provided for amendments on Report Stage. An e-mail was sent at 7.30 p.m. stipulating a deadline of 9 p.m. This is not of the Leader's making, but it is a very short timeframe and we did not get to include our amendments. I will address them by way of discussion on the section during the debate. I may not be able to do so and in that case I will refer to them on Fifth Stage. A deadline of 90 minutes, particularly when the e-mail is sent in the evening, is not sufficient.

I have previously asked that the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Paudie Coffey, or the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, come to the House to address my grave concerns about the operation of the pyrite remediation scheme. I know that the Leader has requested the Minister to come here to debate that issue. The scheme is far too cumbersome and not getting the traction we thought it would. There are major problems relating to the local property tax exemption, as many home owners suffering pyrite issues are not being given the local property tax exemption promised as part of the legislation. The Department and the Revenue Commissioners are insisting on a specific test that can cost up to €3,000, so why would anybody bother seeking an exemption in such circumstances? I know that there will be much work to do before the end of the session, but it would be useful, if possible, to get in the Minister of State before the recess. I will table a Commencement matter on the subject otherwise.

I give the following notification to Members in order that there will be no confusion similar to what we saw on a motion last week.

I will be circulating a motion to all Members seeking their support for a call by the Seanad for the urgent filling of the pancreas transplant surgery post in Beaumont Hospital. I have raised the matter on a number of occasions, as have other Members. We are all concerned at the fact that transplant patients now have no access to organ donor co-ordinators and are being told to go to accident and emergency units. I have raised this issue in the past two weeks and I am trying to be helpful, as we are not getting the answers we should from the HSE or the Department of Health. I will circulate the motion to all Senators later today seeking their support and I will be looking for a specific debate next week, even if it is for only half an hour. Members might let me know by close of business next Tuesday whether they are willing to support it. If anyone reads the testimony published on thejournal.ie last night of someone waiting for a pancreas transplant, they will see that she feels the rug has been pulled from under her. There is no access to pancreas transplant co-ordinators and we have no pancreatic surgeon. The post remains vacant. I ask Members to put their names to the motion if they feel they can, as the Seanad has a role in this regard. If word goes out from the Seanad that we are as one in calling for this matter to be addressed urgently, we will have done a good job. I ask Members to consider it.

I thank the Leader for scheduling the resumed Committee Stage of the Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill for this afternoon. I advise colleagues that the Bill started life as a Private Members' Bill introduced by me and Senator Mary Moran on behalf of the Labour Party in March 2013. On Second Stage, 11 Members spoke and, as such, there is significant interest in the legislation, which is intended to amend section 37 of the Employment Equality Act to ensure discrimination against teachers, in particular, on the basis of sexuality or family status will no longer be possible. It is a very important Bill and there is great interest in it from civil society, the unions and LGBT rights groups. It was delayed and we had Committee Stage over two dates in March 2014, at which time there was again a great deal of interest from colleagues. In the light of that, we are scheduling the resumption of Committee Stage which will I hope conclude this evening, as the Government has now approved a set of amendments for Report Stage. We hope Report Stage will take place next week. Those Senators who tabled amendments on Committee Stage, Senators Katherine Zappone and Averil Power, have been briefed by the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, and a further briefing has been arranged for next Tuesday, 7 July, at 3 p.m. for all Senators with an interest in the Bill in order that Members can have a full briefing on what the Report Stage amendments will entail. The meeting will take place in meeting room C in LH 2000. I have circulated a notice on that at the request of the Minister of State. It is a very important Bill and it is a good day for the Seanad to see it progress as a Government Bill, having started life as a Private Members' Bill. It is broadly welcomed on both sides of the House.

I also welcome the announcement this week, about which other colleagues spoke yesterday, of the extension of GP cards to all children under 18 years who receive a cancer diagnosis. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, announced it earlier this week and it is a hugely important and very welcome extension.

I commend Alcohol Action Ireland, the alcohol health alliance, for the work it is doing in support of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, which was published in February 2015 and which will provide for minimum pricing of alcohol and various restrictions on alcohol advertising. The Bill, which has been greatly anticipated, received a broad welcome.