I join Senator Nash and others in calling on the Leader to amend the Order of Business so that only Committee Stage of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2017 is taken today.

The Labour Party supported Senator Leyden last week but has changed its mind this week.

I will ignore that interruption. I also support-----

It would be more productive if the Leader was less likely to-----

I love the consistency, a Chathaoirligh.

I will give the Leader ample time to respond in a minute.

Thanks very much.

Moving on, as the Cathaoirleach and the Leader know-----

My difficulty is that sometimes when a nice lady like Senator Bacik is speaking, the Leader can interrupt her flow and disrupt her presentation, which is not fair.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his concern. It is not often that I am referred to as a nice lady but I appreciate the sentiment.

There is no Member better equipped to look after herself.

It is maybe St. Patrick's week. It is coming from the Cathaoirleach and it is well meant.

Perhaps the Senator is a comely maiden at the crossroads.

I will take it in the spirt in which it was intended and I thank the Cathaoirleach. I say to the Leader that different Bills have different contexts and call for different approaches, as he well knows.

I must remember that flip-flop.

It is far from a flip-flop. It is being consistent in taking each Bill on its own merits and looking at each in its own context.

Hear, hear.

It is entirely appropriate.

I join other speakers in commending primary and secondary school pupils who will be in front of Leinster House tomorrow for the strike for climate. In the Visitors Gallery today, we have rang a sé from Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School. Many of its pupils will be taking part in the strike for climate. I welcome them to the Gallery. It is a school that is close to my heart and I am delighted to see them.

I hope the Leader will come back to the issue of archive retention after the recess. The Retention of Records Bill 2019 was approved by Cabinet recently. The Bill is of real concern because it is suggested that very important records of child sex abuse perpetrated within institutions as investigated by the Laffoy commission, the Ryan commission, the Residential Institutions Redress Board and others are to be sealed and kept from any public scrutiny for 75 years. It is an extraordinary proposal by the Government and it is hard to understand why such a lengthy period has been identified. Why is it not the normal archive retention period of 30 years? Catriona Crowe, formerly of the National Archives, and other historians have expressed serious concern about this and there is an online petition about it. I urge colleagues to support my call to oppose the Bill and for questions to be raised as to why this lengthy period is being proposed for such important records regarding national issues we need to be able to address and to have our historians address within a shorter period than 75 years.

I will respond first to Senator Gavan's interesting comments. We must look at all aspects of an agreed Ireland. When I talk about the Commonwealth, I know it was a Fine Gael-led Government which declared the Republic in 1949. A consequence was the passage of the Ireland Act 1949 in Westminster which recognised, in effect, the Northern Ireland state for the first time. It was Tim Pat Coogan who said, rightly, that it brought on the Border campaign in the 1950s. While I appreciate where Senator Gavan is coming from, we have to be very careful. What I said yesterday rings true. Perhaps calling for a Border poll now is the wrong thing to do. I have talked to businesses and representatives of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce in London. They thought the time to call for a Border poll would be in ten or 15 years, which would give people space. Brexit has caused huge hurt, anger and anxiety. While people have every right to call for a Border poll, we need space for now. I look forward to the conference on 27 April. If I can make it, I would love to attend.

Regarding a long extension process, what is happening in Westminster is incredible. It looks today as if the Prime Minister will request an Article 50 extension. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, has rightly said that we are in favour of a long extension but it is up to the EU. On 21 March, a European Council will take place and it will determine much regarding where we are going. We are grinding down the clock and I believe the withdrawal agreement is the best of a bad lot. While we would like to see a second referendum, we cannot be sure where that would go, given the way things are in the UK. There is no good side to Brexit for this country.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Senators and Deputies who attended the dementia information meeting in the audiovisual room yesterday. The stories of people suffering with dementia really hit home. There was a fantastic number of Deputies, Senators and their staff in attendance. This is no criticism of the Leader but I am sad to inform him that notwithstanding the undertaking the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, gave before Christmas to meet the all-party committee on dementia and Alzheimer's, no meeting has taken place. Meanwhile, over 1,000 people have been diagnosed with dementia. There was no acknowledgement in the HSE service plan for 2019 of the need to increase dementia services. I ask the Leader to use his good offices to insist the Minister for Health prioritises a meeting with the all-party group on dementia from both Houses and prioritises as well the improvement of services for families with loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. I ask for that meeting to take place as soon as possible.