I am not sure how long the bell is.

I am sorry.

We will resume now. I thank the Minister of State for rushing back. Before we start our next item, I welcome Bernie and Eamon Smith and Cyril and Lavina Jordan, who are guests of Senator Nessa Cosgrove. They are very welcome and in very good hands. Senator Cosgrove is always welcoming and is one of more hard-working Senators. Everyone is very welcome. I call Senator Sarah O'Reilly.

Before the Minister of State commences, I welcome guests of Deputy Duncan Smyth from Swords Community College. They are all welcome and the tradition is that they do not have any homework for the rest of the week. I hope they enjoy their visit.

The Minister of State does not get homework off.

He has to do his homework.

Before the Minister of State commences her reply, I welcome guests of the Minister, Deputy Calleary. They are very welcome to the Seanad. I am probably pronouncing it wrong. They are from Behy ICA. May they enjoy their day. It is a great place to visit.

I want to alert the Minister of State that there is a vote in the Dáil. Does he need to go?

It is an eight-minute bell and has been ringing for three minutes. Senator Scahill can use his minute and then the Minister of State can take his, after which we will move on to the Order of Business.

I thank the Minister of State. We now move to the Order of Business as the Minister of State legs it over to the Dáil vote. We will just wait for the Cathaoirleach.

Hear, hear.

I would also like to support Senator Keogan's comments in relation to Senator Flynn. It is another week, and another week of carnage on the roads and deaths of horses at the hands of sulky racers. There was another dead horse in Clonmel, where a sulky horse collapsed and died of exhaustion. Clonmel seems to be a hotspot for these animal abuse cases by sulky racers. In another incident, there were two horses racing up the N7 dual carriageway while the lanes were all blocked by cars following behind them. This, ultim…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in and taking this important Commencement matter. There is an increasing problem whereby schools are facing serious structural issues and they are not being allocated the resources to get things right and function properly. I raised in this House a couple of weeks ago the issues that CBS Westland Row has. As I am sure the Minister of State knows, that is not too far from here; it is a short walk. In that school, there is a defective downpipe and it has caused mayhem. It has …

I thank the Minister of State for that very helpful response and offer to follow up. Ringsend boys' and girls' school is fighting on and working on another issue at the moment. The Department of education looked at its student enrolment for 30 September 2025 as two separate schools rather than one. They had 280 pupils combined on 30 September and its retention figure is 279. Even though they are amalgamating and there will be one school for all of these pupils, the Department of education looked at them as two scho…

I concur with Senator Conway. It is objectionable that we are sending live cattle to Israel. We should not be trading with Israel in addition to the animal welfare issues. I raise the matter of the Irish Glass Bottle site. There was a commitment to put 350 new public homes on that site. There are 550 affordable ones. The Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group has been fighting with the State for the last nine years. It has gone through four Ministers for housing. Deputy Browne is the current Minister and the group…

I thank the Minister of State. It is really important to have statements on homelessness and the new housing policy, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The people I meet and the people who call my office every single day, some of them crying, upset and requiring additional support services, do not see any delivery of homes. We just have to look at the family hubs. In the north inner city you can see the huge number of hotels and the family hubs. They are all behind the statistics the Minister of State came out…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. As has been said, it is important that we invest in young people and our communities. One of the issues that comes up when talking to youth workers around the inner city of Dublin is the impact of housing prices and accommodation. As Senator Tully mentioned, recruitment and retention are issues. If a youth worker is living close to the city centre or around the city centre, it is not a problem. Youth workers would like to invest and work in their local communities. It i…

I welcome the Flemish minister for agriculture and the environment. I also welcome the Belgian ambassador. They are all guests of the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan. They are very welcome and I hope the Minister of State is looking after them.

When is it proposed to sit again?

Is that agreed? Agreed.