Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I join others in welcoming the Minister, Deputy Reilly, to the House and wish him well in his office. This has been my first opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment since he has taken office. I wish him every success and while Members are present for legislative purposes today, I hope he will be in a position to attend debates in the House in the short term on some of the serious issues that have emerged in recent weeks concerning the fair deal scheme and the overall financing of the health service and not least, on more parochial concerns that Members will have. In my case, my concern is for the Minister's former alma mater in Sligo General Hospital, where the 100 days are counting down and I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, talks to the Minister regularly about the return to it of cancer services.

The purpose of today's sitting is the Second Stage debate on the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill 2011. It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to my colleague in the last Seanad, Senator Bacik, whose leadership on bringing forward this issue was accepted immediately by the Minister of the day. Following the Bill's preparation, it was published shortly before the dissolution of the previous Dáil. In essence, this captures for me the true worth of the Seanad and what it can contribute. I note for the attention of newer Members or those who have chosen to tune in online, which is the only place one can watch this debate unless one attends the House, that no member of the media is present. Moreover, this debate is likely only to be covered in a token way, perhaps by "Oireachtas Report" much later this evening. This is the great failing in respect of debates that show the Seanad's worth and what it gives to people, even in advance of potential reform. One need only ask the people from the organisations who are sitting in the Visitors' Gallery and who I welcome. They have fed public concern in through leaders in society like Senator Bacik, who have then introduced legislation based on public concern. This happens more often than not in this House but rarely happens in the same way in the Dáil. However, the media will choose to cover matters there, while pontificating on the need to over-scrutinise the €25 million it costs to legislate in this House. I refer to the proof seen today in respect of the Bill under discussion and note the tongue in cheek and token coverage, as well as the empty chairs of the media benches that can be seen today. The coverage of this House is a sad indictment of that profession with respect to the good work being done on this Bill and on other Private Members' Bills which Fianna Fáil Members plan to introduce, as well as those I am sure will be developed and initiated by the Government side, by the two Independent groupings and by colleagues in Sinn Féin to which one may look forward in future.

There is nothing with which to disagree in the context of the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill 2011. Quite simply, it is a barbaric act, as described by the then Minister, Ms Harney and by the Minister, Deputy Reilly, subsequently. As a relatively young person, I find it extremely difficult to comprehend that any part of modern society would contemplate inflicting such barbaric acts on girls or women of any age. The introduction of this legislation is appropriate and long overdue. Through the work of others, Members have become better informed regarding the 3,000 women who have suffered in this way. It is of the utmost urgency that this Bill be passed in its entirety. The Minister has outlined in considerable detail the medical aspects and has noted that there are no medical or health benefits to FGM. Having read the research papers made available to Members by the Oireachtas Library and others as to the mythical benefits, I believe they are unreal. It is important that the various State agencies, such as the HSE and others, are appropriately informed regarding the cultural backgrounds of people in order that they can be sensitive to people's perceived cultural practices and the myths associated with them. Among the reasons female genital mutilation, FGM, is supposedly necessary are sexuality, preservation of virginity until marriage, marriageability, economics in that FGM is an income-generating activity for the women who perform it and gives them higher status in their societies, tradition and preserving a so-called set of values and rituals in the community. Despite this, there is no proof that it is linked to any religion. There was some suggestion that Islam had some association with it but there is no such teachings in the Koran and no Islamic person of note would preside over such a barbaric act and regard it as a ritual necessary to denote one's loyalty or devotion to religion. Culturally aesthetic reasons are put forward, that in some way the genitalia is supposed to be ugly.

It is disgraceful in the extreme that in the modern world anyone would preside over this practice. While we must be sensitive in dealing with the cultural issues and the myths associated with it, we must not be deterred from moving forward very forcefully with this legislation. I do not wish to delay the House by pontificating about this issue. The Bill's benefits are clear and we must proceed with it. I suggest that Committee Stage be dealt with as quickly as possible and we can deal with amendments at that stage. I commend the Bill to the House and, in particular, I commend the efforts of Senator Ivana Bacik. I remind the media these are the debates in which they should interest themselves and not just provide the tongue in cheek coverage we have seen in the past.