I wish everybody a happy Europe Day, which falls on 9 May every year. Some 92% of the Irish population is still expressing support for the EU and EU membership. It is important that we acknowledge it. It has come a long way since the foundation in 1951 of the European Coal and Steel Community. I am sure some of my colleagues who are members of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs will be mentioning Europe Day.

If we are going to have a Seanad reform committee, I am delighted that Senator McDowell is to chair it. I am not so sure I am delighted with some of the other members of whom I was informed this afternoon. They have obviously done everything in their own constituency, which is where I live, and have so much time on their hands that they can reflect on Seanad reform. I hope that the committee does not just consider how one gets into this Chamber but also examines what the Seanad could be doing that it is not doing and what it could be doing better. It is not the Cathaoirleach's or the chairman's fault, but all I have heard so far is about how Senators get in here. I have heard nothing about what they do when they are here, or what they could be doing and so on.

I heard a speech by the Taoiseach last night in which he mentioned climate change in the course of a much broader debate. He fairly brushed over the fact that we will not meet our 2020 targets or even our 2030 targets but that we should make our 2050 targets. It is probably easy to say that we will meet targets 32 years from now. From 2020, I understand we will be facing fines of between €300 million and €600 million a year. Surely it would be better if we could achieve the targets. We should do whatever we need to do in terms of electric vehicles, building insulation of public buildings and private housing and so on. We should try to mitigate against whatever fines we are going to have to pay. I call on the Leader to bring in the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to have a debate on climate change and where we are going. It is not about agriculture or vehicles only. Let us try to make sure that we mitigate against the worst effects of having to pay these fines and, equally, that we improve the quality of the planet for generations to come.

I thank those Members who have congratulated me on my election as chairman of the implementation group for Seanad reform. I assure all Members of the House that this group, which has yet to convene and have a full meeting, will be open to all suggestions from everywhere in this House and will not have a closed mind. I think I can guarantee that.

In response to what Senator Horkan has just said, the Manning report does refer to the role of the Seanad and has ambitious aims to involve the Seanad in European matters, not just looking at secondary legislation but giving some teeth in Irish parliamentary procedure to the Lisbon treaty proposals and other things. I think it was an English Prime Minister who said, "Reform, reform - aren't things bad enough already?" Whatever worthwhile reform emerges from this process will take time to implement. A deep and well-organised reform should not cause too much fluttering in the dovecotes here as regards the next election to Seanad Éireann.

I have been reading in the newspapers over the last few days about Dublin City Council's proposals to consider knocking down a lot of its apartment buildings because they are old or whatever. The funny thing is that the older they are, the better they are. The communities in them are more settled. Dublin City Council should not be so devoid of ideas that it would now start to cannibalise its own existing apartment buildings, such as Mercer House off St. Stephen's Green, which are fine buildings. If there is something needed to modernise them, it should be done. What we need is more houses, not to be knocking down existing apartment buildings. The irony is this that with places like Fatima Mansions, St. Theresa's Gardens, O'Devaney Gardens and the like, and some of Ballymun, the more recently a big development has been carried out by Dublin City Council, the worse it has turned out to be in terms of the overall environment for living.

I want to put on record my strong opposition to the idea that Dublin City Council should start to devour its own decent buildings to create space for replacement buildings when there is plenty of land in Dublin, including land that can be acquired via compulsory purchase orders, if necessary, to provide decent homes in the city centre for people who want to have a decent way of life and access to affordable and social housing.

Like Senator Horkan, I wish everyone a happy Europe Day. I was going to say so much else, but I fear the Senator may have stolen my speaking notes. It is more likely that great Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown minds think alike.

I did not steal the Senator's notes.

Good, although I suppose one would need to write notes down to have them.

I did not have any.

Senator Horkan imparted the recent findings of the European Movement Ireland-RED C poll, according to which 92% of Irish people are in favour of Ireland remaining within the EU. It is an encouraging statistic, but far more encouraging is that, in the 18 to 24 years bracket, the figure is 97%. If North Korea made these figures up, we would still struggle to believe them.

Something that is discouraging, however, is the Irish population's lack of linguistic skills in second, third or fourth languages. Will the Leader call on the Minister for Education and Skills to attend the House to discuss a strategy that encourages young and not-so-young Irish people to take up additional languages, specifically European ones like French, Spanish, Polish and beyond? As we embark upon the post-Brexit era when our exposure to and reliance on the Continent will grow, it is important that Irish people not simply do so with an ability in English, a lesser ability as Gaeilge and no third or fourth language. This is putting us behind the curve economically and socially on a European level.