Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with a number of my colleagues in regard to sentencing but I am very taken by what Senator Healy Eames said because she identified the nub of the issue, that is, the very low level of prosecutions with regard to the heinous crime of rape. Many of us were appalled by the barbarism involved in the attack on a young woman in India recently but many of those crimes committed here are not reported or if reported they are not successfully brought to prosecution. That is an area that should be examined and I ask for a debate on it.

I noted the comments of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, on radio yesterday when she was responding to the significant rally that took place in Merrion Square last Saturday where 25,000 or 30,000 protested against the forthcoming legislation with regard to abortion. She made a point which I would echo, that is, that all debate in this area should be done in a respectful fashion but she omitted a couple of words which must be added to that, namely, that it must be both respectful and truthful. I found the comment that she was unaware of anybody who wanted abortion on demand disingenuous. She does not have to look beyond members in her own party both in this House and in the lower House to find them, and we could name them for her if she needs them to be named. We need truth and we must face up to this issue-----