I congratulate Joy Neville on becoming the Rehab sportsperson of the year. Joy is from Limerick. She is a neighbour of mine and I know her well. She may not support the same rugby club as me but her brothers do. Joy played for Shannon and UL Bohemians, as well as Munster and Ireland This latest accolade adds to her Grand Slam achievements in the past and her 70 caps for Ireland. She has shown great commitment. When she was awarded the title of sportsperson of the year on Sunday evening last, Joy said she was dedicating it to all young sportswomen. The message she gave to them is that they should dream and achieve.

There have been many reports recently, however, which have highlighted the lack of participation in sport on the part of young females. Will the Leader invite the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to a debate on how we can encourage future participation of females, especially young females, in sport? Many reports on this issue encouraged the Minister for Education and Skills to make physical education a compulsory subject in schools, which I welcome. We should have a debate on how we can encourage further participation of young females in sport.

I second Senator Byrne's request that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport attend the House for a debate on supporting the participation women in sport. I was a surfer when I was growing up in Tramore, County Waterford, and I recommend more participation in sport.

I welcome the Government's announcement last week of plans to construct 42 new schools in areas of need across the country. Since then, however, we have heard many reports of the serious issues facing the principals, boards, teachers, parents and students in the 575 schools awaiting delivery of previous commitments to refurbishment, repair and expansion. Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills to represent my colleague, Deputy Catherine Martin, who has been fighting for the Balinteer Educate Together national school, Dublin 14, as it tries to get its premises improved. I heard from this and other schools about the problems this causes. One in particular, Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna, County Dublin, has been waiting 22 years for the delivery of new school buildings. Trish McGinley, the chair of the school's board outlined to RTÉ's "Drivetime" on Friday the effect such unfathomable delays have had on the staff and pupils at the school, as well as the incredibly poor response they have received from the Department of Education and Skills in this regard.

I was contacted by Tramore Educate Together national school, County Waterford. The population of Tramore is rising exponentially. When I was a child, it was 3,000. In the 1990s, it rose to 6,500. In 2016, it stood at 10,381. Fortunately, the Minister recently turned around a proposed constraint on class intake. While this was welcomed, the school needs to move to a new site. There is land available close by and the Department has proposed that the school will have to split classes between two sites. This is not good for health and safety. I will raise this as a Commencement matter soon.

I am hearing from many schools about the lack of communication from the Department regarding building projects. Will the Minister for Education and Skills come to the Seanad to discuss the lack of communication between the Department and schools?

I want to raise the issue of equal parental rights and the family rights of children with same-sex parents. Three years ago, many Members of both Houses stood in celebration with the LGBT community as the announcement came from the RDS that the civil marriage equality referendum had passed. The legislation that gave effect to marriage equality, the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, affords equal rights to same-sex couples who wish to have children and form families. It has been three years since that historic legislation was passed by the Oireachtas. However, Parts 2 and 3, which confer equal family rights for those who can only conceive through assisted human reproduction, have to be yet commenced by the Minister for Health. While we claim that in this State all family formations hold equal esteem before the law, there are many stark realities that face these families, aside from simply not having equal status to others. There are realities such as preventing a family from applying for an Irish passport and citizenship for their child, preventing the child from accessing his or her parents' estate if they pass away intestate and preventing a parent from making emergency health decisions on behalf of a child in the case where the other parent may be out of the country.

I, like the Leader and many others, have been seeking certainty in respect of this matter for some time. I am saddened that I and many others have been fobbed off by the Department of Health with deadlines which have been consistently missed and responses which have not been transparent or reasonable. In that context, I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business to call on the Minister for Health to come to the House to explain this delay, which has gone on for too long without any rationale. I do not do this lightly. However, given that I have attempted to get clear answers through different Oireachtas avenues on this issue, the Department seems unwilling to give them to me.

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, come to the House?

Yes.