John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Briefly, I wish to support the principle of Deputy Naughten's Bill and commend him on it. He has articulated well the issue in respect of the Roscommon case and the history of legislation in this regard. It is obvious to everyone that the legislation currently in force comes from a completely different era and is not suitable or appropriate to life as it now is lived. It comes from a time when women obviously were discriminated against in many areas and perhaps at the time were thought to be of so little significance that they were incapable of committing an offence. I also welcome the Minister's response.

The issue here is to deal, in a comprehensive way, with incest and, as we have seen in this House in recent years, there is also a need to address a range of issues. I welcome the fact there will be wide-ranging legislation to cover these issues later in the year.

I suppose all of us read the details of the Roscommon case and, for those of us who live close to the area, it made us realise what is sometimes happening under our noses or in our neighbourhoods without us knowing it. That made it even starker for some of us from the region.

I welcome the fact Deputy Naughten praised the work of the individual gardaí in that case. Sometimes people and institutions are all painted with the same brush. There are a few corrupt politicians but every politician should not be seen in the same light. Some members of the Garda Síochána do not act in the way they should but that does not mean great work is not being done by other gardaí.

I very much welcome the highlighting of this issue and the response from the Minister that it will be dealt with later in the year.

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