Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was caught by surprise there. I thought there were a few more speakers.

The Minister for Justice and Equality and I would like to thank Members for their contributions. As the Minister said in her opening remarks, this is a wide-ranging Bill which addresses child protection, including new emerging threats, support of victims, the updating of existing law and a reform of prostitution laws. Dealing with such a range of issues in a single Bill is challenging, to put it mildly. On behalf of the Minister, I welcome the broad support for the Bill in this House, which reflects the support its provisions have received since they were published. It also recognises and reflects all the hard work that has been done on this issue by many people and groups over a long number of years.

There will be an opportunity to address a number of the issues raised at this Stage when the Bill is debated in more detail on Committee Stage. There has been wide, if not outright, support for Part 3 of the Bill on the criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services. These proposals were brought forward by the Minister for Justice and Equality as a result of the extensive review by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence. The Minister would like to specifically acknowledge the hard work of that committee and all its members, led by its Chairman, Deputy David Stanton. It is recognised that much great work was carried out, and I make that point on behalf of the Minister.

The Minister will bring forward amendments on Committee Stage to address the matter raised by Senator Zappone and others on section 5 of the 1983 Act and to further decriminalise those involved in prostitution from the offences of solicitation and loitering. The Minister will also consider all of the issues raised today and expects to further discuss them on Committee Stage.

The Minister and I would like to thank all Members of the House for their contributions. The Minister looks forward to even more detailed consideration of the Bill on Committee Stage. This is a very important Bill and what is contained in it will add substantially to the protection of our children against sexual abuse by targeting those who would abuse or attempt to do so. Every step necessary must be taken to achieve that goal. The Bill will introduce additional provisions to further protect vulnerable victims during criminal trials and of particular importance are the provisions which will, for the first time, regulate the disclosure of counselling and therapy records. I am sure the House agrees that this Bill represents a significant step forward. I again thank the House for all its efforts on working on this.