Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could not but agree with Senator O'Neill. That would be a most appropriate course of action. I had the pleasure, as part of the justice committee, to visit the LE Eithnesome years ago. I am sure Senator O'Neill and others would agree with me that it now behoves us to offer some of these people asylum in this country. We have saved the lives of 1,000 people. Let us now give them a life and welcome some of them to our shores. However, before we do that we need to get our house in order when it comes to direct provision, because that is something we should be ashamed of. Certainly, we could not be proud of it.

I agree with my colleague on the other side, Senator Byrne, in terms of IBRC. We were all horrified with what went on and the carry-on that took place. None of us should be tiptoeing around judges, business people, the media or anyone else when it comes to this House and what is constitutionally protected in terms of privilege. Hopefully, we will not see an example of what happened over the bank holiday weekend, when the national broadcaster felt it necessary to gag itself on what is reported in these Houses. We cannot have a situation where the national broadcaster gags itself in terms of reporting what is said in this House. That fundamental separation of the Judiciary and the Oireachtas is important. The constitutional right to report what is said in this House is very necessary.

Since I am talking about the media, I agree with Senator Bradford and others in terms of having a sensible debate on the media. Rights bring responsibilities and we have a new style and type of media now. Newspapers are becoming freesheets to a large extent. One cannot go into any hotel, guesthouse or railway station but one can pick up free copies of the national newspapers. In the hotel where I stay in Ballsbridge I can get the three main national newspapers at the reception free of charge. Many people read them on the Internet and of course we have social media. I think we need-----