Seanad debates

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

3:00 pm

Photo of Michael MullinsMichael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I join with Senator Quinn in welcoming the acquisition of Superquinn by Musgrave's and that 2,800 jobs will be saved. It is particularly appropriate and a source of pleasure that the company is Irish owned. I have a concern, however, and I ask the Leader to contact the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to ensure that suppliers, particularly the many small suppliers and farmers throughout the country who supply to Superquinn, get paid for the goods they supplied to the company previously because many of them, unfortunately, will go out of business if they are not looked after in that way.

I support what Senator van Turnhout requested earlier, namely, a debate on child welfare and proposed legislation in that area. Many Senators spoke last week about the horrific accounts of abuse in the Cloyne report but equally horrific was the abuse by a mother of eight children which was reported and came before the courts in Galway last week. It is unimaginable that despite the involvement of the Health Service Executive the abuse could have continued for so many years and that those children could have endured the abuse we all read about in the newspapers last week. That case and many others that have come before the courts indicate an alarming level of abuse within families. We must ask ourselves whether the procedures in place are fit for purpose and whether the support services in place are properly resourced. We must have a discussion in this House on the need for us to invest in parenting education.

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