Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I thank the Minister for his kind words and all colleagues in the House for their support before and since the last election. It is good to see the Bill receive cross-party support. As Senator White said, it is a sign of what the Seanad can do in terms of initiating legislation on areas which have not been dealt with in the Dáil.

Most importantly, as the Minister said, this legislation should have a powerful deterrent effect and will form part of a public advocacy campaign for those women and girls living in Ireland who are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation. Senator Colm Burke referred to AkiDwA's estimate that more than 3,000 women and girls living in the State have been subjected to FGM. That is an extraordinarily high figure. For the 10,000 women and girls from FGM-practising communities living in this country, our objective in this legislation is to ensure this barbaric practice is not carried out on any of them in the future. The Bill's commencement before the summer is particularly welcome in light of reports that girls are most at risk of being taken abroad during the summer. It is vital that anybody resident in Ireland is aware that taking a girl abroad for the purposes of having FGM performed on her or subjecting her to the procedure in this country is a prosecutable offence. That is the great strength of the legislation.

I take this opportunity to pay tribute once again to all of the organisations, including AkiDwA, which have worked so hard on this issue for many years. I pay particular tribute to the departmental officials sitting behind the Minister for their work in preparing the legislation. I also thank the Minister for his kind words, hard work and personal commitment to this matter.