Earlier, at noon, I met a good colleague of mine, Eddie Mullins from SIPTU. He was in Leinster House to hand in a letter to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. I am referring to a topic that has been raised countless times in this Chamber, on all sides, which is the despicable treatment meted out to community employment, CE, supervisors in regard to their pensions and entitlements and rulings by the Labour Court that have been ignored by the Government. Looking back at the record, I see this was raised last February and last April, and I am going to raise it again today. I cannot begin to express the level of frustration and anger that union members and CE supervisors feel. Here is the level of contempt - that is the only word I can use - that the Government has for these people: it refuses to even engage in correspondence or to acknowledge getting letters requesting meetings. As I pointed out previously, and as other Members across the Chamber have pointed out, these are not well paid staff. These are staff who have given tremendous service across the country in all constituencies, and they have been completely ignored by the Government.

These recommendations go back to 2005 and 2008. The message that the Government sends to private sector employers is that it they are the subject of a Labour Court recommendation, they can ignore it because it is ignoring these recommendations. The letter refers to the high-level forum established by the previous Government under the Lansdowne Road agreement to deal with these matters. The agreement states that the high-level forum will be convened by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, involving the relevant Departments and agencies, and will meet on a quarterly basis. That is pretty straightforward, except it has not met since December 2017, almost two years ago.

That shows absolute contempt for the workers and the Lansdowne Road agreement. The Department does not even have the decency to reply to letters, which is the reason a number of people hand delivered them this morning to the office of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. I am seeking a debate on the matter.

The second issue I want to raise is the change to the retirement age from 2021, from when people will have to work until the age of 67 years. As the contracts of many will expire when they reach the age of 66 years, they will have to sign on for one year, resulting in a weekly cut in their income of €45. Is this the way we should be treating people who have worked for a lifetime in the State? It speaks to the constant theme of contempt of the Government for trade unions, working people, employment rights and so on. We need to debate this matter. It is not fair or proper that workers, on reaching the age of 66 years, should be forced to sign on for one year and take a cut of €45 per week in comparison to their pension payment. These changes have been proposed, but there has been no proper debate about them. I want to hear what Members on each side of the Chamber have to say aobut the proposed increase in the retirement age. Sinn Féin is opposed to this measure. We call on the Government to leave the retirement age at 66 years. Let us have a proper debate on to fund social services and pensions. I would welcome the opportunity to debates on both matters.

I want to highlight a couple of issues related to the Order of Business. The Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations are to be referred without debate to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. While I do not propose an amendment to the Order of Business, I ask the Leader to provide an opportunity at some point to debate policy on the horse and greyhound racing fund, a substantial and guaranteed fund of €55 million per annum. Approximately €80 million was allocated for the fund last year. It is a huge subsidy that, legally, is automatically built in every year. We need to debate if it is the best use of public funds. In previous debates following calls for support on key issues, including animal welfare and social welfare payments, we were asked to point to areas in which changes could be made. This is one area in which we may need to make changes. We need to consider if it is the best use of public resources and whether it should be reviewed and revised. While I am happy to support the proposal that the motion be referred to the joint committee without debate, I ask that when it is returned to the Seanad, or perhaps in advance of the taking of the Finance Bill 2019, we be given an opportunity to debate it.

I also ask the to Leader schedule a debate on the issue of child homelessness. The number of children experiencing homelessness now stands at 4,000. Last week two reports on the issue were published, namely, the report on family and child homelessness by the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and the report on the impact of homelessness on children by the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. The joint launching of the reports was unprecedented. This shows that the issue is emerging as a source of massive concern and that homelessness is affecting, in particular, the next generation and their opportunities. The model in place is creating intergenerational poverty and inequality. We need to address the issue. I would, therefore, welcome an opportunity to debate both reports and, in particular, child homelessness. The reports acknowledge the long-lasting detrimental effects of homelessness on children which extend into their adult lives. They also contain a number of recommendations. Will the Leader invite the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, to come to the House to debate these issues as a matter of urgency?

I have just returned from the 25th International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, which was held in Nairobi. It was an incredible summit which brought together 9,000 activists working on women's health and women's rights across the world. The issues discussed include child marriage, female genital mutilation, maternal mortality, access to contraception and health clinics.

Was the issue of population mentioned?

Order, please. I ask the Senator to refrain from interrupting.

I was asking a question.

It was an incredibly rich and important discussion, for which there were three Senators from different roots in attendance. Will the Leader invite the Minister, Deputy Zappone, who represented the Government at the summit to come to the House to discuss the issues raised.

I ask for even an hour's discussion on the mandate for the decade of action in terms of moving forward and delivering the changes that effectively will save lives and increase well-being across the world. There are huge opportunities for Ireland to be a leader and to show solidarity across the world on this issue.

I join others in wishing everyone a happy International Men's Day. Many people, including some extraordinary male parliamentarians, are doing extraordinary, new and interesting work to change narratives. Last week at the conference I mentioned, I met some extraordinary young male parliamentarians from Trinidad, Croatia and Ghana who have championed issues of gender equality. Some incredible men are working to change how we think about gender and are looking at new and constructive models for masculinity.