Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also extend a welcome to delegates form the web summit here today. For next year's web summit, we might extend an invitation to delegates more generally to come into the Seanad, given that during the week we very much welcomed the fact the summit is taking place and is being attended by more than 20,000 delegates. We have commended the organisers. It is very good to see even a small number of delegates present.
In respect of yesterday's vote on the Fianna Fáil motion, the vote speaks for itself. The Labour Senators are very concerned that Irish Water would remain in public ownership. That is a concern shared across the Government. When the Minister, Deputy Kelly, came into the House to take the debate following that vote, he acknowledged the importance of the issue of public ownership. He gave a very firm commitment that Irish water would remain in State ownership and he said he would bring the decision on the motion back to Government and to the Economic Management Council, EMC, which is meeting this morning. We all very much hope and anticipate that a comprehensive package of measures will be announced on foot of the EMC meeting today and the ongoing deliberations to reassure people about the affordability of water charges and that Irish Water will remain in public ownership. That was the concern we had yesterday and the Minister acknowledged that, dealt with it very well and spoke eloquently in the debate. That was acknowledged by both sides in so far as we could during the debate given the high level of disruption. The Minister spoke very well and in his opening statement acknowledged the vote and said he would bring the decision on the motion back to Cabinet. He said that again later last night. That was a very clear undertaking by him.
In respect of the other matter Senator Mooney raised, the publication in today's edition of The Irish Times of Jean-Claude Trichet's famous letter to the then Minister, the late Brian Lenihan, I am not sure it was released. I think it was obtained by The Irish Times rather than being released formally by the ECB. I agree with the Senator that it would be very important, especially for the banking inquiry, to have sight of all these letters and that they would be put into the public domain. It was very instructive for anyone reading the newspaper this morning to read that letter in full, to appreciate the threatening tone of it and to see finally in black and white what it stated.
I thank colleagues who spoke on the debate on penal reform in the House last night on foot of a Private Members' motion I tabled along with my Labour colleagues calling on the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, to consider the two reports on penal reform that have been produced recently, one by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality in 2013 and the other by the Minister's strategic review group. We had a very good debate. The Seanad was united in calling on the Minister to implement progressive recommendations in the report. The Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, who took the debate for the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, gave a very good response to the debate in which he laid out a number of commitments around implementation. I will be asking for another debate on this issue in perhaps six or eight months time to see what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations.
Senator Conway and I attended the launch yesterday of Ruhama's annual report for 2013 and I was privileged to launch the report in place of the Minister. It was very moving to hear the stories from front-line staff in Ruhama about working with women in prostitution who number 2,500 during the 25 years Ruhama has been in existence. We all joined in calling for a change in the law to ensure the purchase of sex is criminalised in line with the justice committee report from last year.