Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment my colleague on bringing forward the Bill. We are living in a society where it seems that anybody who puts their face into the public arena is fair game to have a go at, at any time or in any place. Recently I had a situation on Twitter. I am quite active on Twitter, as most people will know. I had put out a tweet on something or other and one of these bots came back and said, "We know where he lives; let's go to his house". The sad fact of the matter is that for most of us, our home addresses are well known and we are easily identifiable. If one wants to look behind the sort of aggression that is directed against public representatives, one has to look inside this House. There are people in this House who agitate, bring up the storm and then step back and allow the lunatics to take over, although it is not always lunatics. Again, going back to Twitter, and I acknowledge that it is not my personal residence we are talking about here, I suffered a major attack one night. All of my attackers were members of the medical profession; every single one of them. One of them made a diagnosis online and I told him he had gone too far. Within minutes, all of the tweets disappeared. If it is that easy to whip up intelligent people who hold respected positions in society, how much easier is it to get the mad guys out in front of our houses? How brave they are when they stand in front of people's houses, as happened to Deputy Harris some time ago, screaming all sorts of abuse and names.

I have been in these Houses for nearly nine years. I have great respect for most of the people in this House. They are hard working and have a genuine commitment to the society we serve. We do not always get it right and we do not always have the answers. I was speaking this morning about the need to revisit the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 to spread responsibility across the entire decision-making chain. That is something we must do in this House, sooner rather than later.

The fact that any one of us gets elected to the House does not mean that our families get elected. Our wives, children, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers are entitled to peaceful living and to safety in their homes. It is sad state of affairs when we have to take extra security precautions in our own homes. In recent months, I have had to install CCTV in my home, both front and back. I have had to take out a back gate and put in a stronger one. Thankfully, I have a dog who makes lots of noise when anybody comes around. All of us in this profession travel and there are times when we go away and we wonder whether our family is safe. My son, daughter and wife did not seek election to the Seanad or the Oireachtas. In some ways, they would rather I did not do so either but they are entitled to a peaceful existence.

I commend the Bill and I hope it can be pushed right through both Houses quickly. There must be sanctions for those who would come and threaten innocent people who have no responsibility for decisions we make in here or for what we say when we speak on issues. More important, I have never met anyone in here who has made a speech that did not genuinely believe what he or she was saying and did not genuinely want to make a point and get it across. Surely to God that is the basis of democracy? We do not always like what others say, but at least they have the right to say it. We should all have the right to say it, knowing that our personal safety is assured at all times. I support the Bill and do not see any need for amendments to it. I will support it and I hope it can go through the House fairly quickly.