Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I welcome the passage in the Dáil early this morning of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. It is welcome that after 21 years of legislative inaction, legislation finally is being put in place.

I am pleased the Seanad will have the Bill before it next week. I asked the Leader previously to arrange a debate in the autumn, after the Bill has been passed, to discuss crisis pregnancy in Ireland. I am conscious that today's newspapers report figures from Britain showing that 4,000 women continue to travel from Ireland to England every year for abortions. Since the eighth amendment was inserted in the Constitution some 30 years ago, more than 150,000 Irish women have had abortions in England. We must recognise and seek to address that matter once the legislation dealing with the most difficult cases, namely, where women's lives are at risk, is in place.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on cyberbullying. Senator van Turnhout referred yesterday to the report published by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Mr. Geoffrey Shannon. One of the key recommendations of Mr. Shannon's report is to provide for a specific offence of cyberbullying. The existing offence of harassment in the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act is inadequate for dealing with the serious and tragic cases of cyberbullying such as those which have come to our attention in recent years. The House should debate this issue and address the difficulties arising in respect of how one frames the offence of cyberbullying.

A theme that has been sadly present all week has been the dangers of taking to the water in hot weather. We had two more tragic deaths from drowning yesterday. In the circumstances, it would be useful to have the debate on water safety for which other Senators have called.