Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus ba bhreá liomsa freisin mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leatsa as ucht do chuid oibre ar feadh roinnt blianta anuas. I wish the Cathaoirleach well.

We have already heard the opening shots of the great retreat about the abolition of the Seanad with the admission by the Taoiseach that the matter may not be as simple as originally portrayed. We might add that the matter may not be as simplistic as originally presented by the new Taoiseach. This was clearly a grab, as I have said before, for the cookie jar of popular ideas, when what is needed is a more thorough and mature reform of the operations of the Oireachtas. That would see reform in both the way the Dáil and the Seanad operate and a better resourcing of Seanadóirí agus Teachtaí Dála so that they can fulfil their duty as scrutineers of legislation more effectively. I hope now that with all the different measures being promised we will have careful reflection before we jump into referendums on overly simplistic proposals.

I did not have an opportunity to contribute to the debate about the programme for Government yesterday. I was one of the Members waiting to get in, but there was not enough time. However, one issue I hope the Government takes very seriously is the whole question of how we treat victims of human trafficking and, in particular, how we deal with problems of prostitution. We saw the former Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, moving towards a recognition of the type of legislation used in Sweden where the purchaser of prostitution services is criminalised but the prostitute is not. There is a movement towards a recognition that this is the way we should be going. I had the pleasure, along with Senator O'Toole, of attending an interesting presentation recently involving people such as the poet, Theo Dorgan, Christy Moore and others, uniting around the issue that men in particular must be seen to be saying "No" to the exploitation of women in prostitution.

For that reason, although I welcome the new diversity in the Dáil, I very much regret the wrong-headedness of Deputy Mick Wallace's approach to this issue where he suggests that we might somehow improve the situation for sex workers, perhaps by giving them a PPS number or something. He seems to have adopted the naive and mistaken view that it can somehow be made easier for persons in prostitution in terms of accessing health services and otherwise by giving the whole thing the veneer of legality and respectability. That would be a step in the wrong direction, as other jurisdictions are discovering.

The way to go is to follow the way Sweden has gone, namely, to criminalise the user and protect the person in prostitution. I hope there will be more careful and sustained reflection on this issue. I see Senator Regan in the House, a fine lawyer and an influential person, and I hope he will push the new Minister for Justice and Law Reform in the direction of bringing forward legislation along-----