Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The acting leader of the Opposition, Senator Finucane, paid tribute to Liam Lawlor, as he knew him over the years. He mentioned in particular his experience of Mr.Lawlor's personality and humour. The Senator stated that last weekend was a bad weekend for certain sections of the media but that RTE exhibited maturity in not entering the arena of scandal mongering. Even prior to this incident, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, had promised legislation on the establishment of a press council. He will hasten this legislation now, and I call on the Minister to bring it to this House first, as he is wont to do with many Bills.

Senator O'Toole agreed with Senator Finucane and argued that the newspaper in question could be taken off the market as punishment. We could just stop buying it. We are a small number of people, but if people have strong feelings on the issue, such a boycott should occur. I agree with Senator Tuffy's statements on the news story, and even if every word of the horrible report in question was true, it should never have been printed.