I wish to raise two issues. The first is the necessity to have a debate here with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan. This time last week we on this side of the House were accused of all sorts of things relating to the former Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald. We were accused of skullduggery and there were all sorts of pantomime moves when we asked for accountability. In fairness to the Minister, she came into the House and we had a debate. We are respectfully asking for a debate with the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, on the actions he has taken as Minister and on Garda overtime. In Dublin city, where I live, we had a very successful Garda operation recently when gardaí intercepted what appears to have been a shooting about to take place and they seized some firearms. The second most senior garda in the city is suggesting that the reopening of Stepaside Garda station is well down his list of priorities and now we hear that Garda overtime has been cancelled for the foreseeable future, which means the situation as regards law and order and policing is quite stark, so a debate with the Minister is warranted.

I also want to raise the issue of homelessness, though I know it has been raised before. In recent days, many people watching the political goings-on would not have been too impressed by how the Oireachtas was brought to the edge of disaster, with a Christmas election threatened. Two homeless people have died in Dublin in the past week and I believe the total is seven over the past 12 weeks. The people would want their politicians to engage on this issue with the same level of seriousness as we engaged in the issue relating to the former Minister and Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and the emails in the Department of Justice. People are literally dying on our streets and I respectfully ask that we come together to have a discussion with the Minister for Housing on the issue of homelessness. We would not need to be party-political on the issue but we need to treat it with the seriousness it deserves. The people of Ireland would expect all Members of the Oireachtas to take it as seriously as, if not more seriously than, the issue which convulsed the Houses in recent days.

There has been a lot this week about taking political heads, as Senator Norris said. Anybody who participates in an attempt to destroy the reputation of a decent, honest man deserves everything that is coming to them but Fintan O'Toole writes in The Irish Times today about the subversion of this State by faceless greybeards who hide behind the political system, namely, the officials of this country. What do they do when they get caught out? They retire and take off with their pensions. We need to investigate the question of ethics. We have had a senior garda walk out of a job with a pension into a fat job somewhere else in a policing authority, without any accountability for what took place under her stewardship. We have had similar stories in respect of other civil servants.

Yesterday, we saw the most senior official in the Department of Justice and Equality assure his staff that they will be found to have done no wrong, as he took off with his pension.

For two years, I have been trying to get the Department of Defence, another dysfunctional Department, to release information. I have five simple questions on what happens to the recommendations of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces following his retirement and as we await for the position to be filled. A lieutenant colonel's career was destroyed because of a mathematical error and we have failed to find out what happened in that case. A young captain is waiting for promotion while, again, a recommendation from the ombudsman is rejected.

It is time that we opened the veil on the Sir Humphreys that operate in this State. They are bringing down politicians all over the place. The Leader may smile but they have taken out one of his Ministers, and if we count the last Government they have taken out two. They sit back and smile knowing that the Government members are there for a short while but they are there forever. They have no right to decide what will and will not be released. How dare they behave the way that they have? I call on the Leader to ask the Taoiseach to take control of the Department and make it answerable to this House and to the State.

Everybody is running into injury time today. The time allocated for the Order of Business is two minutes. I call Senator Paul Gavan.

Today is international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Yesterday, SADAKA held an excellent conference which unfortunately I was only able to attend briefly. It had contributions from across the political spectrum and all were welcome. I remind the Leader that I requested a debate on the Palestinian issue, which is more important than ever. The Palestinian people are calling for us to do what has already been agreed, namely to recognise the State of Palestine. I implore the Leader to arrange such a debate as soon as possible.

To return to the question of bringing the Taoiseach into the House, the previous speaker gave another eloquent reason why we should do so. Fundamental questions need to be answered. This House is asking for answers and for the Taoiseach to come before it and provide those answers. There is a huge puzzle here particularly given that the Taoiseach had the email in question as early as Friday evening or Saturday, yet it took him a further three days to acknowledge what had to happen, namely that the Tánaiste had to resign. It is pertinent to note that, according to Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, Deputy Mícheál Martin had the email on Saturday. I must ask what was Deputy Martin doing with the Taoiseach for three days after he first knew that the Tánaiste would have to resign. Was he trying to stich up a deal that would keep the Tánaiste in place until such time as the email was revealed and public opinion recognised that she should step down? Fianna Fáil has significant questions to answer. Is this why it does not support our call for the Taoiseach to come to the Chamber?

I answered the Senator yesterday in a reply to the Order of Business.

I am calling for -----

Leader, please.

I answered the Senator yesterday.

The Leader's obstruction is becoming beyond a joke at this point.

The Leader will respond in a few minutes.

The Leader had his chance to answer the question. The fact is that he has not given one good reason why the Taoiseach should not come in here. The reason is that there is a huge lack of confidence in the Taoiseach among Fine Gael Party members. He had his first major test and he failed it miserably so the Leader does not want to bring him in to answer our questions. That is the fact of the matter.

I thank the Senator.