Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Howlin and the Chairman. I take the opportunity to thank journalists like Ms Ellen Coyne for the good work done in pointing us to something that many of us would have known was going on and for shining a fairly bright light on it. Fair play to her for that.

I refer to the agency that was most recently highlighted in the media and the sort of disgraceful information that it was giving to women in crisis pregnancy situations. Is Deputy Howlin satisfied that said agency, given that it does not necessarily represent its staff as counsellors, will be covered by the Bill? I am not going to name but it is not very far from here and we all know what we are talking about. When we discussed this in the Dáil, I think there was unanimity among all Deputies that these people prey on vulnerable women and need to be stopped. We all want to ensure that, whatever is done, we do the right thing and the best thing for women in this. Is the Deputy satisfied that the 1995 Act can be amended in order to shore up the sort of information that can be given? My primary question is this: is the Deputy satisfied that the people operating the agency most recently in the media will be encompassed by this legislation?