David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I say this as someone who has consistently spoken out on issues of child abuse and incest and all the rest of it. However, we do not do a service if we do not face the facts and if we let ourselves be driven by tabloid headlines. That is why the Judiciary deserves respect and, at the very least, to have its judgments examined and looked at dispassionately, not simply taken up from a headline.

I compliment the Irish Independent journalist Dearbhail McDonald. The reason I am speaking out passionately is that I heard her speak with great clarity on this issue this morning. She did us all a favour by highlighting the important, significant elements of the judgment; otherwise I might have felt the same way as my colleagues.