Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

Last week, I visited Spain to attend the youth advisory forum at the Council of Europe directorate on youth and sport. One of the key issues raised at the meeting concerned the mosquito device and I ask the Deputy Leader to ensure we have a debate regarding this device as soon as possible. I know this caused great mirth the last time I raised the matter not only among Senators but also on RTE radio, which seemed to miss its significance. It was the focal point of the youth forum last week at European level and has elicited much information from Irish youth since I raised it last. Adults do not hear this sound, particularly those over 30 and a majority of those over 20, but it has been used by the military in some countries as a form of torture — I am not talking about the mosquito device but about the technology of high frequency acoustic devices. I recognise that Senator Quinn said he did not need to resort to this type of activity when he was in business because he looked to classical music instead.

The advice from one of the participants at the conference last week was that because people had refused to enter locations which used this device, they had reverted to classical music. Other people have reverted to using pink lights which show up acne. There are other devices, but my issue at present——