Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I second Senator Burke's amendment to the Order of Business. I ask that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform be asked to come to the House in the dying days of the Seanad to discuss the issue of the Director of Public Prosecutions who can be slow to progress cases. On Pat Kenny's radio show many victims expressed their frustration. In some instances their cases were not heard. In one case a lady whose abuser confessed to the crime was not prosecuted because of the time delay involved. People have come to see me who have cases pending and it is next to impossible to find out when the case will be heard. The local gardaí will say they are waiting to hear from the DPP. The DPP will not return calls. It is not a proper system. I realise there must be some separation in that respect but there should be some accountability as well.

The e-mail facility in the House has a spam system, for good reason, but the Ray D'Arcy radio show did an item recently on VAT on condoms. An e-mail was sent to the spokespersons in the various political parties but it was blocked because the word "condom" appeared in the e-mail. Some lessons should be learned from that because in this case, that was a genuine e-mail. It was a serious topic but because the word "condom" appeared in the e-mail it was blocked by the spam system. The Leader might speak to the ICT unit to ensure that e-mails can come through the system.