Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, to the House. I also commend my colleague and friend, Senator Higgins, on the introduction of this Bill. Given the importance of this Bill, which is sponsored by Senator Higgins, Fine Gael has opted to allow her to lead this debate on behalf of the Government. This is symptomatic of how important Fine Gael, as a group within Seanad Éireann, believes this legislation is. I listened with great interest to Senator Crown and to his concerns, which I am sure could be addressed on Committee Stage. I have no doubt that Senator Higgins, more than anybody else, is be open to the acceptance of amendments that will strengthen this legislation.

Over the past five years, cyberbullying has become a problem in this country. Earlier today, Deputies Carey, McNamara and I met a group from Clare Comhairle na nÓg following a tour by them of the Houses. We had a very interesting engagement with them in the AV Room, during which I posed the question as to what, in their view, would be the issues of concern during the next general election. They were unanimous that the big issues would be mental health and bullying, particularly cyberbullying, which is a new phenomenon. I consider myself to be a young politician but this phenomenon did not exist when I was in school. It certainly did not exist when I was in college, a time I shared with the Minister of State, Deputy Nash. We had many great times together in UCD. The Minister of State was a member of the Labour Party and I was a member of Young Fine Gael. When we wanted to inform people about meetings, we did so by putting up notices on notice boards.