Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. It is great to see his meteoric rise in politics from being in this Chamber a few years ago to being in Government. It is well deserved and well earned. He left the corporate world to pursue a career in politics and the public service, and that deserves to be recognised. His contribution as Minister of State has been well noted. His views on the future of the House will be decided by the people on 4 October, and everyone will move on from that.

It puzzles me how long it has taken to get this directive enacted. I know it is replacing an older framework going back to 2004. The issue surrounding child abuse and child pornography is very much an international problem because child pornography on the Internet does not respect boundaries and borders. That is why it is appropriate that this would be driven at European level. On a positive note, this Government is very much committed to protecting children. That has been evident from the beginning of its term of office, when for the first time in the history of the State, a senior Minister with responsibility for children was appointed to the Government. Senator van Turnhout's appointment to this House to scrutinise the Government's performance and to enhance legislation shows that the intentions were there and were acted upon. The children's referendum was certainly a symbolic step forward.

Child pornography on the Internet is proving difficult for larger police forces than ours to come to terms with. It is so widespread and difficult to control that the only way to achieve it effectively is through international co-operation, not just at European level but across the world by co-operating with the likes of the FBI. Co-operation is crucial. The directive must be transposed into national law by 18 December. Will this deadline be met by Ireland? I sincerely hope it will. When will the new sexual offences Bill come before the House for scrutiny? Will the heads of that Bill be referred on to any Oireachtas committee, such as the justice or health and children ones? Is consultation in this area necessary? Perhaps it is not, but this Bill is crucial. This Government and previous ones have advanced legislation and protocols in many areas, and while it is all very well to clap ourselves on the back for that, we need to ensure we comply with all elements of the directive.

We should go beyond compliance with it. I have no hesitation in suggesting this is so important we should have even stronger laws and protocols than required by the directive.

I agree with the requirements of the directive and with the comments of the Minister with regard to education. Training in this area is very important and there has been training for teachers at junior cycle level. I welcome the fact this training will be extended to senior cycle also. There is an urgency to the situation and an awareness of what is right and wrong in this regard is very important for young children. Unfortunately, this awareness is not always provided in the home and sometimes abuse arises in the home. Therefore, schools and other organs of the State must take up responsibility and raise awareness among children as early as possible of what is appropriate and of the support mechanisms available.

We should always strive to do better. No matter how well we have done, we should always strive to do better in this area. We owe it to the next generation to do the right thing and to reduce, as much as possible, the abuse of the most vulnerable in our society, our children. The personal contribution made by the Minister following his speech shows he is committed to dealing with this and is on top of his brief in this regard. I hope all Ministers and Ministers of State and all Members are committed to dealing with this important issue.

I would like to hear when exactly we can expect the sexual offences Bill to come before us and when we can expect it to be concluded and signed into law so that we can say we are fully compliant with all elements of the directive.