David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to give us a timescale for the introduction of privacy legislation. This is an issue that has been covered widely internationally. I gather that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, gave a commitment to seriously examine the legislation and to introduce such a Bill. It is about time. Today, item No. 5 on the Order Paper is a Government Bill on privacy and item No. 16 is my privacy Bill. Privacy is important. It is extraordinary that we were propelled into legislating by the invasion of privacy of members of the British royal family. I thought we already had sufficient reason, which has been increased in recent days by the arrest of a gentleman who was the Irish editor of one of the tabloids that was impugned at the Leveson inquiry. He now resides in Dublin but the individual made his money from such trade. I found it ironic that the person who said he was going to close the newspaper made his initial fortune from the publication of erotic material. In evidence to the Leveson inquiry, when the word "ethical" was used, he said he did not know what it meant. The matter raises questions. If somebody in a position of considerable power within the media is completely unaware of the meaning of ethics, then we need to examine the question of privacy. When we do that we should also review the role of the Press Ombudsman because these institutions need to be strengthened, on which I have some views. In light of the evidence that suggests there is a strong crossover between bad practices in the British and Irish press, we need some form of inquiry similar to the Leveson inquiry here. I hope such an inquiry will be established. We also need to examine the Defamation Bill, which I opposed, as did other Senators on this side of the House. The Bill rebalanced the equation in libel to the disadvantage of the private citizen and in the interest of the press barons.

I do not intend to get involved in the extraordinarily difficult and complicated matter regarding the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly. As I have found it difficult to comprehend his explanation - the arithmetical and logarithmic stuff and so on - I am not in a position to judge the matter. I was interested in one comment that was made and repeated. It has been said that one of the other people involved was a self-confessed Fine Gael supporter. I was unaware that such support was a sin and I sincerely hope that it is not a mortaller.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on safety in light of the tragic accident that occurred on a waste disposal lorry that resulted in a man's losing his life.

I shall mention something close to the Leader's heart: the extraordinary situation whereby 132 boxes of monkfish will be dumped on a quayside in Wexford because they were not caught properly. Such an appalling waste of food and resources needs to be examined because it is immoral. The fishermen did not deliberately set out to break legislation. We need accountability and decency and not just a rigid application of rules.