Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé ag fanacht anseo agus ag éisteacht le gach éinne eile le uair an chloig go leith. Níl mórám le rá agam. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ar ais go dtí an Seanad. Ní raibh mé anseo nuair a bhí sé ina Seanadóir.

In my humble opinion, it beggars belief that 92% of sexual abuse takes place in the victim's own home. Children are being abused by their parents, which is beyond my comprehension as a parent and a proud grandparent. Family members and relations are involved - people who are trusted in various jobs by parents. In later years, children have come forward to admit that they were abused by their own parents. Some of them abused others in turn because they had been abused themselves.

As legislators, how can we encourage young people to come forward and say they are being abused by their parents? It is not an easy thing to do but we must have a mechanism to encourage them to come forward. I congratulate my colleague, Senator van Turnhout, on everything she is doing in this regard. We must listen to our children.

I congratulate the Minister of State on the provision of six locations throughout the country, but we may need more. Other speakers have mentioned the blocking and filtering of unsuitable Internet material. I would block pornographic images from all Internet users of all ages in this country - young and not so young. If these abuses are being committed by parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, we should block such images. If such measures can be taken legally then it should be done. I support the idea of filtering and blocking pornographic images from as many people as possible.