I welcome the Government’s announcement that the draft national planning statement on design standards for apartments will now open to the public again. This is a new draft set of guidelines. I cautioned this many times. Members of the House should be aware that the current guidelines were the subject of a High Court action, which is not appropriate for me to go into other than to say they were referred by Mr. Justice Humphreys and are now before the European courts. Many developers and planners have raised concern…

The Minister who is to take the next Commencement matter is not here. We understand he is on his way. It is a last-minute changeover. I ask the Acting Leader to move a suspension of the House until 10.55 a.m.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the students and teachers from Leamlara national school, who are guests of Deputy James O'Connor. You are very welcome to the House. We are now engaging with Commencement matters, during which a number of topics are taken each day and relevant Ministers to those topics come in, so here we have the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. Enjoy your day. I thank the Minister for coming to the House.

I welcome the students, parents and supporters from the Skerries Educate Together national school who are in the Visitors Gallery. They are all very welcome to the House. I call the Minister of State.

I thank the Minister of State and the Senator.

Before I call the Minister of State, I welcome Deputy John Connolly and his guests from Galway. They are very welcome to the House.

Thank you, Senator O'Reilly. I have to give time to the Minister of State to respond.

I want to raise one issue today. The special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse held a press conference. I do not recall that there were any Senators there but there were a number of Deputies present. It was packed and was extensively covered in all media today. It is a reminder of a lot of unfinished business. We heard a heart-rending story from a man who was taken to Kerry and ended up being boarded out. He shared with us the enormous emotion of the separation of his brothers and the impact it had on h…

I wish I could say the same. I am very positively disposed to this legislation. I thank the Minister for giving his comprehensive statement to us. I smiled with delight somewhat when I heard the Minister pointing out further elements of and commitments in the programme for Government and that he is driving them through. Clearly, this is a Minister with intent and who has a reforming zeal. He is also keeping one eye on the programme for Government, which is encouraging. I do not think any other Minister has ever com…

We will give you the day off work.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. She is here on behalf of the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Deputy Foley, who, I understand, is tied up with parliamentary business and cannot be here today. I am very conscious that the national housing strategy for disabled people 2022-27 provides a framework for the delivery of housing for people with all levels of disability. I also understand, of course, that housing is ultimately the responsibility of the Minister for housing and is not the respon…

I thank the Minister of State and ask her to convey my thanks to the Minister, Deputy Foley, for the response. Key to all of this is, of course, the local authority and, as the Minister of State said, the housing development action plans. I do not know where they are, and if they are just about to start; it is pretty new. It would be interesting to keep an eye on that and let us all look at it again. Independent living, independent dignity, respect for the individual to make choices around their needs, accommodatio…

I welcome the Minister and thank him for facilitating this really focused debate on student access, accommodation, etc. I take on board his point about innovation, which warrants another, separate debate in the Seanad. There are many progressive developments ongoing, particularly in regard to STEM, on-campus sites and the synergies between the private sector and education. It is a really exciting space and there are real opportunities within it for a great synergy of private investment funding that could be tied up…

I always come back to listen to the Minister. Cheers.

It is now 9 o'clock. Sorry, I am looking at a clock with a different time. The Senator has about a minute.

As it is now 9 p.m., the debate must be adjourned in accordance with the order of the Seanad today.

When is it proposed to sit again?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I want to touch on the issue of the Ombudsman for Children's report. It was covered very extensively on all social media outlets and on "Morning Ireland" this morning. As always, I am very supportive of the ombudsman. I know we all are here. Some might describe him as a thorn in the side of Government but that is not always a bad thing. We need to be prodded every now and again and challenged on issues around children. There is a very strict protocol and code around the conduct of the work of any ombudsman and he i…