Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with my colleague, Senator Bacik, on the issue of direct provision. It is very important that we have a debate on matters relating to immigration and the relevant legislation, in particular about direct provision. Many people have a concern that the current system of direct provision and the way that people are being treated is an affront to human dignity. I would like to see it being debated in the Seanad as soon as possible.

Recently I spoke to an Irish language scholar and discussed the emergence of new words and phrases in various languages. Everybody is aware of what a "selfie" is, thanks to the antics of President Obama and others yesterday. We were trying to come up with an Irish phrase to cover the concept of a top-up and my friend suggested crúb sa phoca. I think that captures the greed in our society and the greed that seem to underlay the policy of paying top-ups to people who are already very well paid. This is a matter of considerable concern. I have been told in recent days that people have stopped their standing orders to certain charities. What is really damaging, and this has been pointed out by the head of Bóthar, is the loss of confidence in charities, which do not warrant this loss of confidence, because people are afraid the money they are donating is being wasted. That is part of the real harm.

It is important to send out a message that people should not stop giving to charity because of what has happened. They should certainly be more discerning but they should ensure that their level of charitable giving continues, in particular to organisations that do not spend a large amount of money on salaries and administration. We should welcome that the former chief executive of the Central Remedial Clinic has remitted a portion of his salary to the Health Service Executive. I wish the Committee of Public Accounts every success in examining this matter. There can be a time when it is appropriate to compel witnesses to come before the Committee of Public Accounts. The aim of the exercise should not be to humiliate anybody. I do not know if it is appropriate for Mr. Conlon to come before the committee of his own volition or to be compelled to do so.

I have no brief for anybody in this and I regret the culture of top-ups that seems to have existed but the people who must come before the committee are those who authorised such payments. I am certainly not interested in the humiliation of those who received excessive payments, if they did so lawfully but those who were involved in authorising such payments, either for themselves or for others, should certainly be called before the committee to give an account of their actions. We need the work of the committee to focus on ensuring that this practice does not occur in the future and that proper structures are put in place to make sure that is the case.

I welcome the fact that on Human Rights Day yesterday a very dangerous report on abortion, the Estrela report, which sought among other things, to try to pretend that abortion is some kind of human right and to close down conscientious objections of doctors and others, was defeated in the European Parliament. It was defeated narrowly, it must be said, which is a matter of concern, but it was defeated nonetheless, thanks to an alternative motion tabled by the European People's Party, among others. That was a very positive development on Human Rights Day, underlining the fact that these matters must be left to member states to decide and that there should be no attacks on the right to conscientious objection.