Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too wish to raise the disturbing scenes that took place in Jobstown on Saturday. I agree with the Tánaiste's comments that the protest and antics surrounding it overshadowed the achievements and importance of the day for the graduates who had worked and studied long and hard to get to that point. I was also particularly shocked when looking at the scenes on television on Saturday night by the amount of children that were dragged into the situation. It was no place for children to be involved and I was very disappointed to see so many of them present. As Senator Ned O'Sullivan said, many of the people involved in protests have gone on to become public representatives. Last year when the Taoiseach came to visit Dundalk, my car was attacked and placards were placed on it. The incident shook me up. There was much pushing and abuse was hurled at public representatives as we went about our work.

I accept people have the right to protest and I support peaceful protests, but I am not in favour of people intimidating others or in my case having placards placed on the windscreen of the car, pushing the car and hammering on the roof of the car. Such behaviour is very frightening. On the day in question I was in the car on my own and I had to wait for what felt like an eternity before a garda came along to move the protesters on. Such bullying is totally unacceptable. It leads me to last week's debate in Leinster House on Maíria Cahill. I had the good fortune to sit beside her for most of the debate in the Gallery, and it was fantastic to witness the strength and fortitude she displayed last Wednesday. It was great to see so many public representatives and staff support her. However, I found the questions were not answered. People from political parties spoke about not getting answers. We certainly did not get any answers during the debate last Wednesday even though it was five hours long.

I call on the Leader to arrange a debate in the Seanad on the allegations regarding sexual abuse by members of the republican movement. That debate should be held as soon as possible because we need and deserve answers, particularly when we see more stories every week about sexual abusers being moved across the Border into our towns. We need to get an answer on that as soon as possible.