As we face into a new session, I welcome some of the Bills in the legislative programme, albeit a fairly light one. In particular, I welcome the disability Bill and the Bill to establish the judicial council. It is also welcome that we will have the Taoiseach with us tomorrow when we will be able to raise a number of issues with him.

I ask the Leader for a debate on third level funding, when we can arrange one, in the coming weeks. Today I attended, as did many colleagues, an excellent briefing by USI, SIPTU, IFUT and other unions as part of the coalition for publicly funded higher education. This is a matter of increasing urgency. We need to put pressure on the Government to take a decision on foot of the recommendations made in the Cassells report. Many of us will be pushing for an increase in public funding which the Cassells report acknowledges is the primary aim and need. We saw university rankings slip over the summer; therefore, this issue has become increasingly urgent. However, there is good news for the universities. This Friday night we will have a festival of research in Trinity College Dublin. It is called PROBE and being facilitated by the Science Gallery. Senator David Norris will be one of the speakers. The festival will showcase some of the important research being done in universities. It is open to the public and all are welcome. It will show how important higher education is as a sector in Ireland.

I ask the Leader for a debate on the situation Syria in the light of the appalling crisis we are seeing unfolding, with the Syrian Government and Russia effectively abandoning the peace process. There are 2 million people in Aleppo without running water and 250,000 civilians trapped in the rebel held areas which are under constant and horrific bombardment, with currently only approximately 30 doctors functioning in hospitals. I will also be raising the matter with the Taoiseach tomorrow when we have him before us, particularly in the light of the slow pace of the welcome here for Syrian refugees. We had promised to welcome 4,000, but we have only welcomed a very small handful yet.

I also ask the Leader for a debate on the repeal of the eighth amendment. I was among the many thousands who marched on Saturday with the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment and other groups. We are conscious that the Citizens' Assembly has been convened for 15 October, but I ask the Leader to try to establish from the Taoiseach the likely timeframe for a recommendation from the assembly on the eighth amendment, knowing that that is the first issue with which it has been tasked to consider and also knowing that the movement for repeal is really growing, as evidenced by the 25,000 or 30,000 who marched on Saturday.