Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I wish to comment on the findings of the Ryan commission. I could not help but be almost moved to tears by listening to the man in the audience in "Questions and Answers" on Monday night. It was difficult to listen to his personal account of the sheer horror of what happened and to his sheer frustration with the manner in which he was dealt with by the commission. As he put it so eloquently, but painfully, seven barristers literally ran questions left, right and centre of him, and then someone alleged he was only in it for the money.

These people need justice. They need some sort of movement from the religious orders. It is not all about the money. It is about a step that is much greater than that. It is about showing some level of sympathy with the victims of this horrible abuse. As I said in the House last week, this is probably the most shameful period of Irish history and it is certainly our holocaust. I welcome the comments from the Christian Brothers that they are willing to contribute more. I welcome the statement from the Taoiseach that he is seeking this type of commitment from the religious orders. We need to bear in mind that the debate needs to be balanced, but we need to be ultra-sensitive to the abuse the victims have suffered. We need to be very cognisant that their suffering should be lessened in the future.

I support Senator Coghlan on the fisheries industry. We have spoken at length in this House regarding the dangers of people leaving that industry. This industry is one of our greatest reserves, and our greatest opportunity to reboot the rural economy is to look at the manner in which the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority does its business. The homes of fishermen in west Cork were raided two weeks ago. They were treated like common criminals. These are the people who were responsible for finding the cocaine hauls off the west Cork coast last year. They unofficially police our coastline and we are treating them worse than we treat the scum who peddle those drugs around the coast.

I call on the Leader to call on the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries before the House. We need to discuss the manner in which harsh sea fisheries legislation is enforced. I have called for it before and again I call for a system of administrative sanctions, as opposed to the criminal sanctions which currently exist. If fishermen are found to be in violation of what are minor sanctions at a European level, their catch and their boats are confiscated and they are brought before a Circuit Court judge, which is harsh to say the least. The Minister of State should come before the House and debate whether we could look at relaxing laws in this area, helping an economy that is dying on its knees and helping to reboot the coastal economies.