David Norris (Independent)

I agree with many speakers with regard to the treatment of the late Mr. Lawlor. What has happened is not that we have departed from standards but that we have met the standards of the worst British tabloids. We have been going in that direction for years and I have referred to it in the past. However, politicians were reluctant to take up this issue because they did not want to confront the press. I remember the lickspittling from politicians when a series of meetings with newspaper editors were held in the Oireachtas. Now, perhaps, we have learned our lesson and are prepared to be a little tougher. The Sunday Independent is a very mixed newspaper which contains some good articles. However, I always think of the character in The Pilgrim's Progress, Mr. Facing-Both-Ways, who always tried to have it both ways. On the front page of Sunday's edition of the newspaper, there was a rather sentimental, schmaltzy piece by Barry Egan in which he recounted how Liam Lawlor once loaned him an umbrella. In addition to keeping Mr. Egan dry, this act apparently covered a multitude of sins. At the end of the article Barry Egan wrote, "Perhaps those who savaged him when he was alive will be kinder to him now he's dead". This was just under the headline that misinformed people that Mr. Lawlor had been killed in a red light district in the company of a teenage prostitute. What about the rights of that woman, who I understand is 36 years of age? She has been traduced by this newspaper. Let us have a press council that some Members have been demanding for a long time. Let us have attitudes towards privacy expressed in law because people, irrespective of whether they are politicians, are entitled to be treated with decency in terms of their private lives.

Scandals give rise to much hypocrisy and discontent and strange people want to get in on the act. I heard one individual say that the newspapers should give €1 million to the Lawlor family. What rubbish. Liam Lawlor was not a saint and there is no reason to give anyone €1 million. There is, however, a need for decent attitudes.

Senator Quinn referred to the Easter Rising commemoration. I was appalled by the Taoiseach's remarks in Killarney on the resurrection of the military parade. This is treating the voters with contempt. It openly suggests going into competition with Sinn Féin. Now that it has got rid of its guns, Fianna Fáil will show it has bigger ones. This infantilism does no good. Let Fianna Fáil accentuate the positive aspects of its policy rather than running around attempting to mimic the bully boys of Sinn Féin. I remember 1966 and how unpleasant it was for people who were made to feel outside the box by the official republican——