Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the comments on rural crime made by Senator Thomas Byrne and agree with him that we urgently need to have a debate on crime which I know is a problem in urban and rural areas. It was very discouraging to see a serial burglar being released by the courts recently against all of the advice of the Garda at the time. Such a decision calls into question how connected many members of the Judiciary are with reality. We should, therefore debate the matter.

I support the comments made by Senator Sean D. Barrett. I join him in extending get well wishes to the woman who was seriously injured on the M50 yesterday. The incident brings into focus the gridlock generated across the city when a problem occurs on the M50. I would like to return to a proposal made a decade ago. The then Minister with responsibility for transport looked at proposals to provide an outer orbital route from Naas to Drogheda to take a lot of traffic travelling north away from the M50. That proposal needs to be reconsidered. We need to show more vision when it comes to planning transport infrastructure. I was unimpressed by some of the people from the transportation authorities who made excuses and claimed that there was gridlock in every city. That shows their laissez-faireapproach which has not served us well. There is the same attitude in much of the public service but particularly in the Department of Finance and the Central Bank and very definitely in the Office of the Financial Regulator. Such an attitude contributed enormously to the economic crash.

I agree with the request made by Senator Ivana Bacik. I also wish her well in her role as chairperson of the feminist group of the Abbey Theatre. I suggest she conduct a litmus test on the genuineness of those feminists. Earlier Senator Susan O'Keeffe spoke about gender equality. A great litmus test to distinguish between pseudo and genuine feminists is whether they oppose gendercide. Nothing diminishes the role of women more than for baby girls to be aborted even before they see the light of day. Very few feminists inside and outside this House have objected to that practice.