I am neither the leader nor the deputy leader of my party but I am here at least and that is the main point.

I thank the Leader for outlining the Order of Business. In terms of Brexit, we could talk about it every day. I am glad to see the Leader - like myself - is in such form. With Brexit, every day and every hour brings a new version of what may happen.

Well said.

Yesterday was a little unusual in that there was a very long Cabinet meeting followed by an extending of the hand of friendship, or whatever it is, to Jeremy Corbyn to see what can happen in terms of Brexit. I still hope there will not be a Brexit but, hopefully, at least there may be a softer Brexit than might otherwise have been anticipated by the hard Brexiteers. We need to be cognisant of the fact that it is only next week, next Thursday, it all may go wrong. If it does not, the European Council will be meeting this day next week, 10 April, so time is really pushing on. In fairness, the Government probably needs to let us know there are some plans in place just in case there is a no-deal. I know people do not want to scaremonger and that we do not want a hard border but failing to plan is not necessarily the greatest of strategies either.

I want to raise a few other points on which we might need a debate at some point. A big row broke out about school patronage in recent days. We know there is a demand for non-denominational or Educate Together type schools, which I know are not exactly the same but, equally, the process of managing the transition of any school, which is currently a faith-based school, into a non-denominational or interdenominational school needs to be handled very sensitively. The parents of the pupils attending such schools will have sent them there with an expectation of a particular type of education.

Exactly.

The way that transition is handled needs to be done very sensitively. Clearly, 90% plus of primary schools are in the patronage of Catholic schools, albeit the parents of many of the pupils in those schools would not necessarily regard them as being Catholics or certainly practising Catholics. The transition needs to be managed very carefully in terms of the way it is processed, whether it be that the junior infants come in under a different ethos and are taken by the existing teachers or new teachers come in to take the junior infants and other teachers transition to other schools. That is a debate that will need to happen.

People sent their children there with the expectation of faith formation and with the expectation of Christmas and Easter holidays, St. Brigid's Day and St. Patrick's Day and other religious types of festivals. To be told that it will all be scrapped tomorrow or next year is not the way to go. I do not believe it is good for those who want non-denominational schools or for those who look for faith schools. It is an important point and we should have the new Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, to the Chamber to discuss that topic sooner rather than later.

I attended the recent T.K. Whitaker lecture at the Central Bank on the future of money and cash payments and so on. I believe the ATM taken out of a wall last night in the Border region was the 11th in recent times. Four were taken in the Republic of Ireland and seven in Northern Ireland in the past year. I am not saying that we should give in to these kind of people but we need to look at how we deal with cash and with plastic money over time. We need to look at how we bring people who are not very comfortable with banks, for lots of obvious reasons, into a system of using debit cards and being able to handle and manage plastic transactions. We may not like banks but they are required in a modern economy. Payment systems are certainly required. The idea of everybody collecting their pension in cash-----

Plastic is part of the hole in the wall system.

I will allow this. Senator Horkan is already over time so interruptions will come in.

I am nearly finished. The point is that people can use debit cards and plastic to tap and they do not have to physically get cash out from the ATM in the wall anymore. We need to have a look at the future of money, and equally at ATM security in the shorter run.

If the Cathaoirleach will indulge me I have one more brief point. An important report has been published in The Economic and Social Review on the rent trap that is swallowing half of the working income of some couples. Childcare costs are up to one fifth of their costs and people are not able to save for deposits. Home ownership is something that many people in this country have aspired to and we really need to look at how people are being trapped in that window where they can barely survive in rental accommodation and are not able to save for a deposit. I thank the Leader and I would appreciate a debate on this issue in the future.

I agree entirely with Senator Horkan on the need to be intelligent and sensitive about the transfer of school management control.

Hear, hear.

Some of the stuff we heard on RTÉ this morning was a bit hair-raising for parents, and it was pessimistic for the process if it is going to continue like that.

I also agree with the Senator on the issue of ATMs. If it is possible to insert dye destruction devices into briefcases for couriers carrying money, which contaminates the money, I cannot understand why it cannot be done in ATMs. I do not believe that we have to abandon the use of the machines because they are vulnerable.

I am aware that Brexit is a moving target at the moment but I would ask the Leader to arrange, at the earliest possible stage, for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, or the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, to come to the House to explain what is happening between the Irish and French Governments. I am concerned that President Macron might be putting the arm on the Irish and might link French "solidarity" with concessions on taxation. I would like an assurance that this is not happening and has not been attempted. President Macron is being very aggressive about a no-deal Brexit and all the rest of it. He has been laying down very hard lines for the British withdrawal process. At the same time, we only have to go back to President Sarkozy to remember the French taking advantage of our financial crisis-----

You can say that again.

-----to demand movement on this area. I seek clarification and reassurance that this is not happening now.

In today's newspapers there is an account of a Fáilte Ireland spokesperson saying that we need a 1,000-bed hotel in Dublin for conferences and that we are missing out because the city does not have a mega hotel of that kind. I am sure that is correct but I wish to make a wider point. Will the Leader consider asking the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to the House? Our Dublin skyline is festooned with cranes, which appear to be building offices, hotels and student accommodation. I am sure that the student accommodation proliferation is good for those students who can afford it and it is good for Ireland as an international education hub, but it is tax driven. It is strange that we have all of those cranes, with each crane probably representing a couple of hundred building workers working on those projects, and yet we are not making significant progress on housing for people in the city centre. If tax-driven schemes give rise to student accommodation, I believe we now need a very different approach to urban living and the provision of accommodation in urban areas, taking into account proposals such as the Vienna model for public housing.

In the course of a debate last night on sentencing policy guidelines - I very much welcome that this will come to a conclusion very soon - the Thornton Hall site was mentioned. In that context, I pointed out that as part of that project the Department of Justice and Equality had sold some land at Shanganagh Castle to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The land was for social and affordable housing but the lands have lain empty for 14 years. Now there is a row between that council and the Land Development Agency. Somebody needs to get people to talk or to crack heads together. If that is the record - 14 years lying vacant - and now there is a row about who should develop them, then we have a real problem on our hands.