Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will repeat what I said last week, following the continuing revelations from Anglo Irish Bank. The key issue is to make every resource available to the Garda and the ODCE to ensure that prosecutions may be brought in a timely fashion. There has already been a long period of investigation and the main concern for most people is to see the individuals responsible for the collapse of the banks being brought to justice in the criminal courts. That is where the focus should be. I was pleased to see the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Jim Hamilton, suggest that the priority should be the criminal investigation. As legislators, we should ensure that there are adequate resources and structures in place so that any investigation can be carried out expeditiously.

I would like to commend the organisers of the Pride parade which took place in Dublin city centre last Saturday. I took part in that, as did many other colleagues. It was a really great celebration of the achievements of the LGBT community, legislators and civil society in ensuring progressive change. There is still one outstanding issue, of course, which is that of marriage equality. I hope we will see a referendum on that issue next year, as recommended by the constitutional convention. I ask the Leader to allow for a debate on the recommendations of the convention. We should follow up on the suggestion he made last week to invite Tom Arnold, the chairman of the convention, to the House in September to update us on the reports of the convention and on what he hopes to see arising out of it.

We will be debating the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013 this afternoon. Senator van Turnhout has tabled an amendment on the disclosure of psychotherapy and counselling reports in respect of children in sexual offence trials. I know the Minister told us last week that the Law Reform Commission would be dealing with the general issue of disclosure of counselling notes in sexual offence trials, and not just those pertaining to child complainants. Once the commission has reported on that, I ask the Leader to allow us debate such a report, regardless of the outcome of this afternoon's Bill.