Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan is graciously generous to a fault.

I say, "Well done," for bringing forward this legislation. I did not prepare a paper on it, but I want to make some observations on the narrative as I see it. It is only a kerbside experience. As a father of four adult children who has seen them grow up through their early years, school and involvement in sports into manhood and womanhood, I have learned a lot. The great US entertainer Bill Cosby, a very talented man who has a master's degree in psychology, is a saxophone player and was possibly the highest earning entertainer in the world until Oprah Winfrey overtook him, noted that before he got married and had a family, he had many theories about what was good in child rearing. He then had five children and no theories.

As Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan said, there are many uncharted waters for every human being who comes into this world. It is interesting that child labour, often involving children climbing up chimneys to clean them, occurred in so-called civilised societies, including those following Judaeo-Christian customs and norms. Kaiser Wilhelm II who was at the pinnacle of society in pre-First World War Germany had survived a very difficult birth with a deformity. In order for the appearance of the future king to be the right, he was manipulated and abused as a child and put into steel braces for up to 12 years to correct what nature had done to him during his arrival into the world. It crippled him psychologically and led him to do things as a leader of one of the most industrialised countries in the world he might not have done otherwise.

Looked at in very simple terms, there is one exhortation from centuries back, that if a person scandalises children, it would be better if a millstone was tied around his or her neck and he or she was thrown into the depths of the sea. That is a very simple exhortation in terms of the respect we all need to give children because as Deputy Catherine Byrne said, the child within us never leaves us. It is that very sacred and unique aspect of each individual that we aim to cherish and encourage.

I will recount a personal experience in the wake of the child abuse scandals in the sport of swimming. My children had begun to take part in competitive swimming and the club they were joining had just experienced the trauma of the revelation of sexual abuse by an Olympic coach. The club and families involved were traumatised. I was asked whether I would take on the role of president of the club and Leinster Swimming for one year to create a distinct line between what had occurred up to that point and what would happen in the future. I did not want that chalice because of all that had happened, but I did it because we had not been involved and children in the sport needed to break from the past rather than have the sport closed down. I, therefore, have first-hand experience of the difficulties involved.

As Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan said, regardless of how theoretically sound the framework and the law are, it is practical experience and living through the different aspects of life that count. We need a change of culture rather than legislation. Some of the tribal cultures of what we call primitive societies protect their children better than the more sophisticated and complex societies. It is about a culture of norms and environments that are de-stressed. There are huge stress levels in complex societies. There is financial stress for two thirds of this society which will remain for ten to 15 years. It is horrible that one third of society will survive relatively unscathed the deep distress and financial depression that still lingers unnecessarily for two thirds of society because of the unfair outcomes of the financial collapse.

I will stray a little, but it is relevant because it is connected to the topic. It is too easy and glib to blame greedy developers and politicians, but it could not have happened without the credit bubble which was the responsibility of the boards of directors of banks. It created the environment that remains and will remain unless we have the courage to insist on a debt write-down with our European partners. Members may think I am out of order in mentioning this, but I am not because this atmosphere is like a fog that has caused depression for far too many. We have not seen the faces of those who were on the boards of banks and abandoned the principles of fractional reserving in 2001. They have not told us what they knew or did not know about the policies that should have been in place but were not all that time. We owe it to our children. That is the connection. This is called the Children First Bill. There are families which have been destroyed, are depressed and distressed because of the outcome and the wreckage that has been left. One can measure the progression of the credit bubble and the culpability of the boards by looking at the balance sheets of the banks and building societies from 2001. The sector has a culpability figure of 92%. It is measurable. We should start with the debate we might have been having on the banking inquiry, except that we need four days leading in to it. We do not need outside financial consultants. The reason I am saying this is children are suffering. That is the reality.

When one codifies the law, which is what we are doing, one can sometimes digress from the practicalities of creating a culture and an environment which is safe for children. The visual exposure of children on television and videos, etc., is deeply upsetting. It is upsetting to me, as an adult, yet it will become the norm in the visual imagery in the minds of children. It is not right. One does not need a law to stop this; one merely needs good common sense. We can excuse ourselves from using our common sense by patting ourselves on the back and saying we have articulate and complex legislation that hides us from the raw reality that in scandalising the little ones one deserves to have a millstone placed around one's neck and be placed in the sea. It is a simple sentence and in any language we all know what it means.

The contributions of the women Members in the Dáil and those who have supported the Bill through the Department are hugely important because women are the mothers of the children whom we are trying to protect and who have that close bond from the get-go, even before children are born, with their well-being. It is always important for men to listen to what they have to say in this matter.

My contribution may seem kaleidoscopic, but it is connected with experience. It is giving a narrative and putting flesh onto the legislation which, by its nature, has to be set out in codes, paragraphs, articles, sub-articles, etc. When one starts to define what people have got to do, one can miss the point. Our culture deserves to have an injection of generosity and that we, as public representatives, talk about this, that we not be afraid to talk about it and that we state it is not good enough to see the exposure of multiple matters such as gratuitous violence on television. One would not allow weeds to become rampant in one's garden or chemicals to be used that would damage growth in it. Why should we allow our minds and spirits to become corrupted or contaminated? It is merely good sense.

When we look at those families in distressed regions of the world where there is no food or water, there still is great protection and shelter, warmth and love, for the children, no matter how distressed are the adults. One does not see perverse behaviour towards the children, yet in more complex and sophisticated societies one can get weird stuff that is hidden in darkness and the occult on the Internet and elsewhere. We need to get back to basics.

As I stated, in the banking inquiry we need to look at the basics.

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