I, too, welcome the news that the heads of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill will be adopted by the Cabinet and acknowledge the work of a number of people, including my colleague, Senator Ivana Bacik, and the Adoption Authority of Ireland, on the issue. I also note some of the issues the Adoption Authority of Ireland has noted it considers need to be addressed. We need to be mindful that we go as far as we can with this legislation.

I agree with Senator Katherine Zappone - I have said it already, as has Senator Paul Bradford - that we need to and should have a pre-budget debate in this House on the issue of public expenditure and the important headlines for the budget and so forth. Two weeks ago we passed legislation which prevents discrimination against rent supplement tenants in securing accommodation based on their source of income. It was perhaps a little noted part of the Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, with which we were dealing at the time. May we have a debate on rent supplement? It is fine to put in place well meaning legislation preventing discrimination and I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, is keen that the legislation should be effective. However, I have a number of concerns, the first of which is about the adequacy of rent supplement. It is inadequate to secure or keep accommodation. There are still inordinate delays, although some progress has been made, in processing rent supplement claims and the manner in which the scheme is administered. My problem is that given all these issues, there is no way someone in receipt of rent supplement could not be discriminated against on purely legitimate grounds, namely, the manner in which the payment is made. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate with the Minister concerned to look again at the rent supplement scheme on which so many tens of thousands depend for their home.