Seanad debates

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

10:30 am

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We all spoke yesterday about the tragedy in Berkeley in California. Now that more details have come out about the students and the horrific and appalling deaths and injuries they suffered, I express again my condolences to their families and communities in south Dublin, to the student community at University College Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and to St. Mary's in Rathmines, which some of them attended. It is appropriate that flags on all State buildings are flying at half mast today and that we had a minute's silence yesterday in the House.

There have been calls for a debate on the matters arising from the Clerys shop closure on Friday. It was raised this morning as a Commencement matter and many of us raised it yesterday on the Order of Business also. While I welcome the very active engagement of the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, on the issue and the active engagement of the Department of Social Protection with the staff of Clerys, we should have a debate on the repercussions and on what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again. We should discuss how we can strengthen our legislation on redundancy and insolvency. I ask for that debate again. I welcome the fact that it appears the concession holders will have access to their stock, although it is limited. At least that one thing is being done.

I commend the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre on the great work it has been doing in providing front-line services to victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse. I attended the launch of its annual report for 2014 this morning. The figures published for 2014 show an increase of 30% in first-time callers to its national 24-hour helpline. There was an increase of 14% in calls relating to adult rape compared to the 2013 figures. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, spoke at the launch and outlined a series of Bills she proposes to introduce before the end of the year. While we will have the Second Stage debate in September or October on the sex offences Bill which the Minister hopes to publish before the end of July, I ask the Leader for a debate on victims' rights prior to the introduction of the victims' rights Bill that the Minister proposes to introduce and also prior to the signing of the Istanbul convention, which she is hopeful we can finally sign as a State this year.

I ask the Leader to make time for a debate on child marriage. Senator van Turnhout and I have been working on this, and we had a Private Members' debate on the matter. An interdepartmental working group is looking at the ending of the facility to contract a child marriage in Ireland. It is a timely topic to raise today, given that yesterday was the day of the African child. The focus internationally among NGOs and development agencies is on seeking to ensure that child marriage is ended in Africa, where tens of millions of girls are subjected to early and forced marriage while they are still children. It is obviously a hugely pressing issue in many countries and we need to take a lead in Ireland on ending the practice of child marriage.

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