I join colleagues in welcoming yesterday's announcement by the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, in this House in response to the Private Members' motion tabled by Senators John Whelan and Denis Landy. She agreed to review the legal costs associated with the State Claims Agency and also look at the manner in which claimants or potential claimants were dealt with by the agency while protecting the interests of the taxpayer.

I concur with what my party leader in this House and Senator Denis O'Donovan said about the housing crisis. It is an emergency, as has been stated on many occasions in this and the Lower House and by those working most closely with the people involved in the crisis. I include Senator Aideen Hayden and acknowledge the excellent work she and her agency, Threshold, have done throughout the years.

Will the Deputy Leader clarify for Members and the nation in general when the Labour Party believes the Taoiseach will call the general election?

We are on the Order of Business.

This is very much on the Order of Business.

The Senator's guess would be as good anyone's.

It is to do with how long the Order of Business will last in this Seanad. The Deputy Leader might clarify when the general election might take place as far as the Labour Party is concerned.

Will she reiterate the commitment given by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan?

They have been joined at the hip in government for the past four and a half years. Both parties gave a commitment that the Government would see out its five-year term. We learn that the Taoiseach's main advisers, in pressing him to go to the country in early November, include the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and now European Commissioner Mr. Hogan who incidentally made a hames of everything he touched, from the so-called reform of local government-----

This is the Order of Business.

-----to the mess he made of Irish Water. Incidentally, midnight tonight is the deadline for applying to the Department of Social Protection for the so-called water conservation grant. It is ironic that more people have applied for that grant than who have actually paid water charges. Tens of thousands of people who did not get around to registering with Irish Water but who paid their bills will not qualify for the grant, while others who received bills, registered with Irish Water and did not pay them will. That is part of the legacy of one of the Taoiseach's main advisers, Mr. Hogan.

The Senator is over time.

The other person is the Minister for Finance who, incidentally, has cut the Labour Party adrift by arrogantly talking to Independents about the formation of the next Government before the people have had a chance to have their say. As well as crucifying the ordinary people of the country-----

The Senator is way over time.

-----he was part of the so-called dream team that nearly wiped out Fine Gael when he led the party into a general election in 2002. I ask the Deputy Leader to clarify the position of the Labour Party. Is she accepting that her party has been cut adrift? In cutting it adrift the Taoiseach has accepted that it will be annihilated.