I am on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and have met the two Ministers from the Leader's party who made commitments but not one has been delivered on. I have been to every meeting of the committee since I came in here two years ago.

Please, Senator, the Leader is anxious to conclude.

Methinks the Senator doth protest too much.

We are anxious.

I tell the truth.

The Senator's version of it.

I tell the truth.

Alternative facts.

I am smiling because some of the members of Fianna Fáil remind me of an under-14 team. They wore the jersey and banged the hurley off the desk for Micheál Martin this morning and they are all coming in with a pep in their step in this first week back after the Easter break. The lads need to know it is a question of being in government-----

The Leader should not make promises his party cannot commit on. Fine Gael has made a lot of them.

Does the Senator want me to list-----

There is lots more stuff here and Fine Gael cannot-----

Does Senator Murnane O'Connor want me to list the broken promises of Fianna Fáil?

I could make a list myself.

If she wants me to, I will. The fundamentals are that we do need to see a collective end to the scourge of people being homeless and being put into hotels. We need to see a continuation of the social housing building that the Government has commenced. We need to see the issue of the affordability of land being tackled and we need to look at all measures that can increase the output and supply of housing. Personalised attacks on the Taoiseach or the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government have nothing to offer in any debate. What we need to see is not just idle rhetoric but actual reality happening in terms of policy development. I look forward to working with all Senators to see that happen.

Senators Maria Byrne and Grace O'Sullivan raised the issue of the participation of women in sport. I congratulate Joy Neville on being awarded one of the People of the Year awards. It is great to see young women being able to reach the pinnacle of their careers, whether it is Katie Taylor, Katie Walsh, Joy Neville or whoever. It is fantastic and I support any initiative we can undertake to encourage women's participation in sport.

Senators Grace O'Sullivan and Murnane O'Connor raised the issue of school accommodation. I am not familiar with the particular issues they raised in terms of the specific schools but the refurbishment of schools is something the Government is committed to. If I may educate some of the Members of the House who come in making statements - I am not sure what kind of research they do - in 2017, the Government spent half of what the Fianna Fáil Government spent in 2008 on rented prefabs. We are planning for the future. That is why we have seen the announcement of new schools and €8.4 billion in a school building programme. That compares with €4.9 billion in the previous ten years. In 2008, we had about 2,000 rented prefabs in use.

We had a bigger population.

Today we have 1,325. In any man's language, that is a decrease. That is going down. The €8.4 billion allocated by the Government will allow for prefab replacement. I taught in a prefab in my previous life. I was the person who, on a wet and wild day, could hear the wind and have the rain coming through, with a storage heater that worked if I gave it a kick and did not work at all if it was a bad day. I had to take classes in that type of school.

There has been an increase of 30% in prefabs between 2015 and 2017. The Leader's information is wrong.

The Government is committed to modernising, investing and refurbishing-----

I remind the House that we are nine minutes over the allocated time. This cannot happen every day. There is a Minister waiting to come in and another piece of business to be commenced. I ask Senators to refrain from argy-bargy across the Chamber. I ask the Leader to try to conclude.

The Minister, Deputy Bruton, as I said yesterday, is committed to coming to the House to discuss the Action Plan for Education.

Senators Warfield and Ó Donnghaile raised a very important issue around the enactment of the Children and Family Relationships Act. To be fair, Senator Warfield outlined to me before today that he was going to raise the matter. I was in touch with the Department. A number of technical drafting issues have come to light in respect of Parts 2 and 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. The implications of these issues are being explored by officials in the Department and the Office of the Attorney General and clarification on whether primary legislation is required to resolve these issues is being sought.

In the event that primary legislation is required, the Minister will seek this as a matter of urgency. I ask Senator Warfield to give the Minister a bit more time to come back to us on the matter. I have flagged the matter with the Department because it is a very important one. As the Senator has said, there are people affected by this delay. As I have outlined to the House, there are issues that need to be addressed and more time is required in regard to the matter. I would be happy to come back to the House again with the Minister at a later date. Rather than creating a debate now on it, I have given the House an updated position and would be happy to return to the matter in a number of weeks.

Senator Colm Burke raised the issue of investment in health and I will have the Minister come to the House regarding that matter. Senators Kieran O'Donnell and Lombard raised the issue of the connectivity in the context of Shannon Airport. I congratulate the airport on its New York Stewart International Airport daily flight. As Senator Lombard rightly said, those of us in the southern capital of Cork have been disproportionately affected by Norwegian Air's decision. I have written to the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport requesting that the DAA come to the committee to explain why Cork Airport lost out in this case. As Senator Kieran O'Donnell rightly said, it is about having a structured debate around our aviation policy in the future whereby we do not allow everything to happen in Dublin and where the growth is not just centred around Dublin but that both Cork and Shannon can be seen to grow exponentially as well. I would be happy to have that debate with the Minister, Deputy Ross, in the coming weeks.

If Senator Warfield would allow me to have the Minister come back to me again with an update rather than divide the House on a very important issue, I would be happy to come back to him. I will not accept his amendment on the basis of the reply I have given to the House to the effect that the Department is working to iron out the difficulties and I would hope that he would allow that space.

Senator Fintan Warfield has moved an amendment to the Order of Business, "That the debate with the Minister for Health on the rights of same-sex parents be taken today." Is the amendment being pressed?

We have heard it all before.

I am as anxious as the Senator to get the matter resolved. That is why I took his request as seriously as I did.

It is Senator Warfield's prerogative if he wishes to have it pressed.

We have given the Minister three years.

Give him a chance.

If the Senator wishes to withdraw the amendment and reinstate it in a month's time, he has that prerogative as well.

I am happy to work with Senator Warfield. I am as anxious as he is to get the matter resolved.

Can we meet the Department?

I will put in a request to have the Senator meet the Department and I will go with him if he wants. I have no problem with that.

I thank Senator Warfield. It is a very important, sensitive matter and the lives of people are being discommoded in a variety of ways.

Does the Cathaoirleach think it is right that the Leader of the Seanad has to answer accusations from a Senator who is not here and that we go over time because out of his deference-----

That is a matter for the Leader. I will just say this as a word of warning-----

They were serious accusations about the navy and the Army.

As a warning to all, I have been very accommodating to people but in future I will strictly cut people off and the Leader will have a limited time. It is not realistic that we go 15 minutes over when there is a Minister and other matters waiting.

A Chathaoirligh, the people who do stick to time-----

That is a matter for the Leader.

I think it is very unfair that Senators sit here and wait, with the grace of the Leader, while other Senators who have actually accused the Government of things that are possibly not true are not here to have them answered.

Excellent point.

That is a matter for the Leader. I cannot rule on that one as it is not a decision for me. It is up to the Leader to respond. Some people for different reasons may have to leave early and they say so to the Leader. They may have other committee meetings, for example. If people want me to record the amount of time Senators are in this Chamber, I might give the answer that some people might not desire me to give.