Eoghan Harris (Independent)

I wish to reinforce the comments made by Senators White and O'Toole on the address made by Mr. Justice Paul Carney. It was important that he made this address to the law society in UCC, which is a group of serious, young law students. I attended a packed meeting at the society a few weeks ago. As Senator White said, it is good he spoke at this democratic forum. Far too often judges keep their minds opaque to themselves and just talk to their peers over port. It is good he spoke at this democratic forum and I hope the House commends him on his courage in speaking out and letting us know how his mind works on this important subject. The danger of manipulation of victim impact statements in collusion with some sections of the media is very real. We need to know how these statements fit into the business of judging.

I support the remarks made by Senator Feeney on mental illness. It is 20 years since I made a programme entitled "Darkness Visible" for RTE, after which the switchboard was jammed for three days simply because nobody had spoken out about mental illness previously. I would love to be able to say things have changed, but the stigma attached to mental illness is as great as ever. If people in the private sector let their employers know they suffer from chronic depression, they soon find out how little the stigma has changed. I have seen people discriminated against because, genuinely believing the stigma was gone, they told their employers they were suffering from depression. They were squeezed out and dealt with badly. We need debate on the issue. It is not that we need to put the Minister or anyone else under pressure, but an open debate would do good and help destigmatise the issue.