Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to express my sympathy to the family of our colleague, Senator Imelda Henry, and to the family of a former colleague, Éamon de Buitléar. Like other speakers, I wish to express my horror at the death of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.

It is important to remember that there are areas of this country, and particularly of this city, where people walk around with impunity and where human life appears to have no value. There is not a day in the week when the gardaí do not enter no-go areas, so it is a miracle that there have been so few fatalities in the Garda Síochána.

I agree with colleagues who say we need a wider debate on this subject. It is shocking to think there are criminals - drug dealers and other forms of low life - who seem to have no difficulty whatsoever accessing firearms. We need to come back to this issue.

On a more positive note, I would like to mention the work of the Constitutional Convention last weekend and the very interesting outcomes relating to the term of the Presidency and the lowering of the voting age. The consensus among those who favoured the lowering of the voting age was to lower it to 16 years of age. There were some very interesting outcomes from the Constitutional Convention last weekend. Towards the end of the life of the Constitutional Convention towards the end of the year, it is its intention to discuss some wider issues around constitutional reform. I have long campaigned for the right to a home, for example. Will the Leader invite the chair of the Constitutional Convention, Mr. Tom Arnold, to the House and ask Members for their thoughts on the wider issues of constitutional reform which could be considered?