Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. As we know, it seeks to make provision in respect of the publication or inclusion in a broadcast of reports or pictures identifying, or likely to identify, certain children. As Senator McDowell stated when he was introducing the Bill in the Seanad, it emerged because of a decision by the Court of Appeal on 29 October last. The case it was dealing with was an appeal brought by The Irish Times, Independent News & Media, RTÉ and the NewsGroup newspapers against an order made initially by Mr. Justice Michael White and subsequently by Ms Justice Carmel Stewart in the High Court directing that the identity of the child, the subject matter of the prosecution in question, who was the victim of what was an apparent homicide, should not be revealed. Senator McDowell went on to identify the central concern arising from that Court of Appeal judgment, in that it represented a major injustice to the parents of a child who is killed in a homicide by abolishing their right of free speech and the rights of parents to tell their story in public, and to express their tragic loss in many cases. I was happy to see, however, that the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, stated she had received Cabinet approval to support this Bill subject to proposed Government amendments.

Not one of us would accept being placed in a situation where we could not speak freely in such horrendous circumstances. While there may have been a legal argument for the decision, it was surely incomprehensible at a human level. I accept however, as Senator Rónán Mullen, one of the proposers of the Bill, said in the Seanad, that through simple logic and the rules of statutory interpretation, it simply was not open to the Court of Appeal to substitute what might have been the intention of the Oireachtas in 2001 in place of what the clear meaning of the section we are amending today actually was.

It is only right and proper, therefore, that Members of the Oireachtas and the Government have shown a willingness to address this issue in as efficient a manner as possible. No law should inflict additional suffering on parents who are already grieving the greatest kind of loss there is - the loss of a child through murder. We have a duty to end that suffering and to allow them the legal protections that should exist as a matter of right. If clarity can be provided by this Bill, I will support it wholeheartedly.

I once again commend the Senators for bringing forward this Bill and also commend Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, who brought forward similar legislation in this area. It is a positive witness of good parliamentary collaboration that we should see more of in the future.

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