John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and I am glad to be in a position to say my party supports the Bill. I come from the village in which Matthew Horan lived for a number of years. It is important to highlight that the conversation, both locally and nationally on the various chat shows, has been about how we can protect young people. There is a real void. If one looks at the case of Matthew Horan, he was first arrested in 2004 and computers were seized. There was subsequently another raid and phones, USB storage devices and so forth were seized. The point I am trying to make is that the focus of the raids was very clearly on the hardware, rather than the various platforms on which he was engaging with children. To be effective, it is important to focus on that area and that is where this legislation goes.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan talked about young people and the dangers and risks they faced. She is right. There are young people at home sitting in their rooms terrified of what is on their smartphones and other devices. We owe it to them to deliver a solution and protection very quickly.

In his opening comments the Minister alluded to the fact that his Department was to prepare legislation and that it was progressing more slowly than he would like. He also said he would not be opposing the legislation brought forward by the Labour Party. I appeal to him to be pragmatic and go further because there are resources available to him and the Government in drafting legislation, including the advice of the Attorney General. There is a willingness in this House to work collaboratively to bring the legislation to fruition and to do so quickly. Rather than diverting and wasting time in preparing parallel legislation, I appeal to the Minister to work with the Labour Party, as others suggested. My own spokespersons have said we will be bringing forward amendments, but this needs to be done and really quickly as we are behind the curve in dealing with this issue. When one listens to debates on radio shows, parents are at their wits' end in not knowing how to look after their young children. That responsibility falls to us. Therefore, I appeal to the Minister to work collaboratively. We, on this side of the House, have facilitated him in government. I now appeal to him to work with the Labour Party on an all-party collaborative basis to bring a solution to this problem as quickly as possible.

See this speech in context