Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I wish to extend our sympathy to the family of Ashling Murphy and to the community in general. It is so sad that we are speaking on this subject this afternoon. Ours is supposed to be a more civilised society as time passes. We expect that we have learned from the past, but I am not so certain. What is emerging now is an increasingly aggressive and violent society. We should be able to understand this from dealing with our constituents when they come to tell us about the things that have happened to them, whether people are of a different religion, sexual orientation, race or whatever the case may be. They are entitled to their rights. Individuals, be they men or women, have their rights. That is being challenged daily now.

Yes, we must go to the schools and impart the knowledge to the upcoming generation that these ways and means are not acceptable and that it is not acceptable to be misogynist, to be violent towards women or to be violent towards anybody. Incidentally, a number of my colleagues have mentioned that the male population can fend for themselves. Unfortunately, I have dealt with a number of cases where that did not happen and where very young teenagers attacked an older, seemingly stronger person, brought the person down and damaged the person for life. There are also those situations.

I believe this a wake-up call. The movies, pornographic videos and so forth that are available are unfortunately influencing our younger generation. It is creating a problem. If a problem was not there, it certainly will be there. We need to address that and try to ensure that people are not influenced by what they see on pornographic videos or any other type of video, for that matter.

I wish to make a final point. I believe we must now address the issue as a nation. We have to call a halt and make it quite clear to all and sundry that what has happened in this and other cases of attacks against women or attacks against anybody is completely unacceptable and must come to a stop. It is said that people can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrongdoers can be in the wrong place at the wrong time as well, and this is what we have to create. I congratulate the Minister on the initiatives she is taking in this area. I hope she is successful and that the progress through the House of the legislation she is proposing is rapid.

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