Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would also like to begin by paying tribute to Jimmy Walsh on the occasion of his retirement this week. Along with most other Senators, I attended the wonderful event yesterday to celebrate his distinguished career.

The Leader referred to his excellent shorthand skills, his many experiences and the great distinction with which he covered the Seanad. He also covered many other events, including the visits of President Kennedy, which he spoke about graphically, and President Reagan, which he spoke about with eloquence and wit. Jimmy's reports are noted for being honest, accurate and impartial and Senators will agree that his reporting has done the Seanad and the institution of Leinster House a great service. He provided a fair account of the proceedings, which are often overlooked by other newspapers and media outlets.

All of us will miss his regular reporting and the wit and banter we experience when we bump into Jimmy on a corridor. He is a true raconteur and gentleman and I will miss him greatly. I express this tribute to him on my behalf and on behalf of the Labour Party group. I express also my gratitude to him for the long service he has given in reporting on the Seanad. I wish him and his family well on his retirement and what will be, I hope, the next stage in a very distinguished career. We would all welcome the publication of a memoir detailing some of his experiences and recounting some anecdotes for the greater enjoyment of the public. I thank Jimmy very much.

I welcome the launch today of the report on penal reform by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. I was the rapporteur for the Sub-committee on Penal Reform, which spent 18 months examining how best to reform the prison system. It examined, in particular, end of sentence strategies and how to ensure greater rehabilitation of prisoners. We finished the report in February and it was adopted unanimously by the full joint committee. Launched this morning, the report makes five practical, sensible and credible recommendations for improving the penal system, in particular, the adoption by government of a decarceration strategy to reduce prisoner numbers and penal system's reliance on prison. I ask that the Minister for Justice and Equality come before the House for a debate on the report now that it has been published. While the joint committee will also engage with the Minister as it seek to have the report's recommendations implemented, the document should also be debated in the Seanad, especially given the active role a number of colleagues, including the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators Conway and Zappone, played on the sub-committee in producing it. Such a debate would be good.

The draft insolvency guidelines have been the subject of media reporting. Writing in the Sunday Business Post, Niamh Connolly raised the concern that the draft guidelines suggest that people who are paying for child care should give up jobs if their child care costs are higher than their income. I strongly disagree with any suggestion by any insolvency service or Minister that any man or woman should have to give up work for this reason. Senator van Turnhout spoke about the value of early childhood education and its importance to children. It would be wrong to suggest that insolvency guidelines would force people to give up work. No parent should be required to do this. It would be an utterly short-sighted approach given that while child care costs are especially high for preschool children, as I know from personal experience, they reduce substantially when a child begins school. It would be short-sighted for a parent to give up work on the basis that his or her income would be only slightly more or even slightly less than the cost of child care for a short number of years. Long-term careers and employment are much more valuable than this. The idea that someone would be forced to give up work on that basis is wrong.