I second Senator Leyden's proposal to amend the Order of Business. I acknowledge the enormous amount of work he has done and he will have my full support with this work. He has stuck at this for a long time and I am happy to second his proposal to amend today's Order of Business.

I discussed the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme with the Leader yesterday and tried to impress on him the importance of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government coming to this House as soon as practicable because this is an important scheme. We have again heard in the media today of people who are barely over the threshold. These people are up early in the morning to do a day's work and want to take this opportunity to avail of the loan scheme to purchase a house. That is an admirable thing for anyone to do. It should be encouraged and supported. I have just come from a committee meeting and I spoke to the Minister on the fringes of that meeting. We should ask the Minister, if at all possible and if it fits in with his timetable, to come to the House.

The Minister said this morning that he is anxious to get the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018 through both Houses of the Oireachtas. I attempted to impress on him that it is open to any Minister to initiate legislation in this House. It has not happened very often this term but it is open to the Minister. I ask the Leader to engage with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to find out and track when we can expect the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018 to come through either House of the Oireachtas because it is important.

I would also like the Leader to come back as early possible, perhaps in the next week, to outline the possibility of bringing the Judicial Council Bill to Seanad Éireann. It is important legislation and many Members are keen for it to progress. I see no reason it should not. We have time on our hands and this is a legislative House. It is our function and job to scrutinise legislation so let us take the Judicial Council Bill in both hands, give it a good airing, debate it and see how it can be progressed.

I commend the work of Kathy Wolff from the community relations forum in Newtownabbey. She visited Leinster House yesterday with Mr. Brian Lennon and the women from Ballymun to engage in a dialogue for diversity. The community relations forum promotes good working relationships by encouraging honest and open dialogue to enable people to have a better understanding of respect for each other's views. We all have much to learn from the manner in which these women work together. Their Looking Back: Moving Forward project is particularly interesting. They outline stories from the Easter Rising, the First and Second World Wars and their personal and differing experiences in the most recent conflict. The Ligoniel, Wolfhill women's group piece on the suffragette movement gives prominence to Mayo woman Dr. Kathleen Lynn who went on to establish St. Ultan's Hospital. I wish the community relations forum well in its future endeavours and look forward to working with it in the future. It is important that groups like that come to Leinster House so we hear what they have to say about their experiences. I look forward to more such groups visiting Leinster House in the future.

I raise the issue of pyrite and mica. This week the High Court has ordered Roadstone to permit inspections in some of its quarries. Hundreds of homes in Mayo and thousands of homes in Donegal and other counties have waited far too long for a redress scheme to be put in place. I am asking today that the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government puts his proposal for the redress scheme and gets approval from Cabinet so that the work can start on these houses which continue to crumble. The failure of the State to regulate to protect these homeowners by the implementation of regulations is scandalous. Can the Leader request the Minister of State, Deputy English, or the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to come before this House to resolve this issue once and for all? We have had input from the expert working group and all the inspections and all that. We really need the redress scheme to be put in place. To add insult to injury, many of these homeowners are being asked to pay property tax. Others have had their mortgages taken over by vulture funds and are in a precarious and insecure situation. The only thing that will fix it is to have a proper redress scheme in place.

I support Senator Boyhan's comments about the Judicial Council Bill. I agree with him that it would be good to see that Bill come to the Seanad. There is no reason it should not. There is plenty of space on the schedule in the coming weeks. Next week will not be suitable because we will have the Brexit legislation. This week's schedule has been dominated by statements on different issues and it would be timely for us to have the Judicial Council Bill in as soon as possible after the Brexit Bill and the recess.

I will disregard the comments that have been made.

More pertinently for the week that is in it, given that International Women's Day is this Friday and its theme is balance for better, can I ask the Leader to ascertain when the Government is likely to publish its Bill on gender pay gap reporting? My colleagues are aware that the Labour Party Bill on gender pay gap reporting passed this House last November without opposition from anyone and passed Second Stage in the Dáil at the end of November, yet the Government still has not moved beyond simply the heads and scheme of a Bill, published last year, and on which the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality has finished its pre-legislative scrutiny. The report from the committee points out the immense delay in bringing forward legislation on mandatory reporting about gender pay gap figures. Given it is almost International Women's Day, given how important this issue is and that legislation has been brought into force in our neighbouring jurisdiction and many other European and international jurisdictions, it is important that action is taken by the Government. It is a pity the Government did not do it last year when we were celebrating the centenary of women's suffrage but it would be dreadful to see the legislation delayed any further. I ask the Leader to make inquiries and that we have a debate in due course on how best to implement legislation on the gender pay gap. The quickest and most effective way would have been for the Government to have simply amended and adopted the Labour Party Bill as it had indicated it would when the Bill first came into the Seanad.

I also ask the Leader for an indication as to when the Government's amendments on parental leave will be ready. The Labour Party had time on the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017 on Committee Stage but is still has to go through Report Stage in this House. This is a matter of significance particularly to many women who are seeking to balance parenting and workplace responsibilities. It is also significant to men. Parental leave is, clearly, gender neutral. It is an important part of a whole package of measures which are necessary to ensure greater equality and diversity in the workplace. I ask the Leader to make urgent inquiries as to when the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill will be back before this House with the Government amendments ready and to take Report Stage in Government time because that would be appropriate.

I thank the representatives from Trócaire, Concern and Goal who gave an update to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence yesterday on the current situation in Syria ahead of an important conference on Syria which will be held in Brussels next week and at which Ireland will be represented. The committee heard urgent appeals for sustained commitment to multi-annual funding for humanitarian workers and the need to protect front-line humanitarian workers who are facing immense danger while working in various regions of Syria which are still conflict regions. The committee also heard about the need to secure the safe return of refugees to Syria and to ensure lasting peace there.

I ask colleagues to join me in thanking the many front-line workers doing important work supporting the many civilians displaced as refugees during the Syrian conflict.