David Norris (Independent)

In that case, I will address the issue raised by Senator Glynn in regard to the case of the 14 year old boy. We have to be careful because it seems the newspapers may have already prejudiced a possible trial through the nature of their reports on the case. However, the reports reveal that the boy concerned has been dignified and honest in his approach to the inquiry and in the way he answered questions. He appears to have been surfing the Internet for some time in order to look for gay sites.

This State has let down and abandoned young gay people. There is no proper provision of education for them in terms of modules about sexuality, despite repeated requests. Last year, for example, I highlighted a case involving the suicide of a decent young man. We do not make proper provision because there is resistance to this kind of information. We cannot criticise this regrettable situation unless we support young gay school-goers. We do not do so at present and it is hypocritical for us to bellyache about the issue unless we support these vulnerable teenagers.