I congratulate those couples who got married yesterday, the first day on which gay couples in Ireland were able to marry. It was a very welcome and historic day and it was great to see celebratory photographs in the newspapers after such grim news from Paris and elsewhere in recent days. I know all colleagues will want to join me in welcoming what happened yesterday.

I welcome the new Stormont House Agreement, A Fresh Start, reached in Northern Ireland yesterday. I hope it offers some resolution of the outstanding issues which have been obstructing progress for so many months in Northern Ireland. I ask for a debate on the changes and their relevance to us, particularly the proposed change in corporation tax. While our schedule is very full in terms of legislation between now and Christmas, we might have a debate early in the new year once we have had time to absorb the terms of the new agreement. I also welcome the fact that we were able to conclude Committee Stage of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill last night. The Bill and the changes to it debated on Committee Stage received a broad welcome across the House. It was a constructive debate and I look forward to the speedy passage of the Bill. The Leader might confirm that Report Stage will be taken next week.

I welcome the schools building programme. Many colleagues referred to it on the Order of Business yesterday and I referred to it in my response. It is particularly welcome to see a new secondary school proposed for my own area in Dublin's south inner city. That school is very much needed and the announcement in respect of it is welcome. I hope it will be an Educate Together school because there is a huge need for multi-denominational secondary schools to accommodate the many children who are coming out of Educate Together primary schools in the north and south inner cities. We will also see a development at the Harcourt Terrace premises where there was a school previously, the Portobello Educate Together national school, which I was involved in setting up. That school is also set for development into a three-stream school in Dublin 2. I also welcome that.

In responding on the Order of Business yesterday, I informed colleagues that we would seek a debate in due course on security issues in the context of the horrific attacks in Paris. I know the Leader will support that call.

I echo what Senator Bacik has said about the Northern Ireland agreement, A Fresh Start, which includes compensation for the removal of the peace walls. I hope the latter will be possible. There will also be a fund to secure, once and for all, the end of paramilitary groups, which have done much damage. There is also some funding for projects relating to the A5, which connects Aughnacloy, Derry and Monaghan. Watching the Stormont proceedings when the negotiations were on, it was clear that there is a working Parliament there of which all the Members can be proud. That is surely an advance over the previous situations which obtained in Northern Ireland. Nostalgia in the Ulster Unionist Party for traditional opposition is misplaced. A power-sharing government is the way to proceed. Traditional opposition politics along the lines of the Westminster model was tried for 50 years and it did not work. It is not a society that needs an adversarial model.

I note with concern that it is proposed to take the Legal Services Regulation Bill tomorrow. What we know about the Bill indicates serious disarray in the Department of Justice and Equality. Well after 8 p.m. last night, I received 68 pages of text from the Minister containing 159 amendments. I do not think it is much of a Bill and I have tabled 37 amendments - across five pages - in respect of it. Our colleagues in Sinn Féin have tabled 24 amendments and these cover eight pages. It appears we are ignoring the advice of the troika to the effect that Ireland has a serious high-cost legal system that is damaging the economy. Why do we implement cutbacks in respect of carers and social welfare and not implement the troika proposals regarding the legal system? We are also ignoring the advice of the National Competitiveness Council about the damage which high legal costs are causing. There is a report of approximately 200 pages in length from the former Competition Authority which points out that the Irish legal system is in need of serious root-and-branch reform. We need separate conveyancing from the monopoly and the right to talk to a barrister without solicitors milking that transaction for fees. The Bill we are due to discuss tomorrow seems to be a shambles. It does not take into account the research that has been prepared. In addition, it is being dealt with at the last minute, which is a bad way to proceed with legislation. We should at least have the weekend to go through, as the Minister had, the 159 faults she sees with the Bill. There are lots more as well. We should not be taking that at less than 48 hours' notice tomorrow. If it is too late to take that item off the Order of Business for tomorrow, I wish to raise it today. It is not the way we should be proceeding. The Irish legal system needs massive overhaul and reform. It is not effective, it is high cost and it exercises far too much influence over the Department of Justice and Equality and at the Cabinet table.

I join colleagues in welcoming the agreement reached in Northern Ireland last night. It is the culmination of ten weeks of very hard work. I pay tribute to everybody involved, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan. The agreement builds on the Stormont House Agreement and is, hopefully, a significant step in normalising politics in Northern Ireland and society generally. The agreement is a credible roadmap for the implementation of many aspects of the Stormont House Agreement, tackling the continuing impact of paramilitarism, reconciling all peoples on the island and bringing about greater economic prosperity. We all welcome the fact that a joint agency task force will be established to identify priorities for combating cross-Border organised crime and to oversee operational co-ordination. This will be given additional resources. This is an issue that has been raised by many Members in the House. It is causing serious damage to economic life north and south of the Border and it is an issue that must be tackled. Hopefully, the agreement will bring about greater prosperity and reconciliation on the island and the normalisation of politics even further.

I very much welcome yesterday's announcement on the schools capital building programme. Nationally, 310 schools will benefit. Every county will see investment in new schools and refurbishment. In County Galway alone, 30 projects will be funded between 2016 and 2021. I am particularly pleased that in my town of Ballinasloe, Scoil an Chroí Naofa will proceed in 2016 while the project relating to St. Theresa's special school will commence construction in 2019. It is only right and proper that our children are educated in the best possible facilities and that we see the end of prefabricated buildings once and for all. The programme will create much needed employment in the construction sector. I welcome the fact that unemployment has fallen below 9%. Hopefully, these construction projects will drive that figure down further over the coming years.