David Norris (Independent)

I am not completely convinced either by the Minister or Senator Alex White. They seem to be overly optimistic about the nature of the printed media in this country, particularly as it comes under very sustained pressure from the British market. I already referred to the way in which The Sun dealt with its apology under the press council. It made the apology and then repeated the offence. I am very reluctant to give an unqualified "get out of jail free" card, which is precisely what this is. I will wait and see. Perhaps the optimists will be proved right and I will be proved to have been too much of a pessimist.

I am very glad Senators O'Donovan and Walsh raised the question of the offence to the family of the deceased in regard to reputation. I again refer, with a slightly different emphasis, to the story I raised yesterday with regard to the relatives of the deceased. The story was just was bad as the Liam Lawlor case. The story concerned an inoffensive, gentle and decent man who met someone he thought would be a partner in at least some kind of perhaps casual sexual relationship. He was murdered by somebody with a track record in this area of attacking gay people. The man was killed by one stab wound which severed the carotid artery. The large headline in The Star was "Kinky Sex Horror". The first paragraph stated: "Gardaí were last night probing whether a man was murdered or killed accidentally in a kinky sex game." The Garda was not doing so as there was no kinky sex game. The man was killed by one stab wound which made him bleed to death very quickly. There were descriptions of the man being trussed up like a pig and it was suggested that he died in some kind of Michael Hutchence-style operation. The word "orgy" was used but it was a pretty modest orgy if there were only two people involved in it.

The idea was put about that this man had voluntarily engaged in a process whereby partial asphyxiation leads to an increase in sexual pleasure. That is completely untrue. After that the newspapers hounded the family and tried to ascertain funeral details so they could take photographs. The family has contacted the newspaper and nothing has been done. There has been no apology and this may be a case that falls into a gap between the passage of this Bill and the operation of the press council.

I agree with my colleagues on the other side of the House that this type of offence is intolerable and unsustainable. I am very ashamed that it happened in an Irish newspaper, not a British tabloid. The newspaper savaged one of our own who was killed under the most appalling circumstances.