Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Jim D'Arcy and others in welcoming the new agreement in Northern Ireland. I especially welcome the appointment of a task force, which we hope will be effective in eradicating criminal activities within what was formerly the Provisional movement and perhaps still is the Provisional movement, particularly in south Armagh and other Border areas. However, I very much regret that the victims of the various atrocities that were committed have been overlooked. Justice for the Forgotten, to give an example, has campaigned for years on behalf of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. All such victims were badly let down by the Government and the Nationalist parties at the negotiations, with the result that the legacy of the past issue has been sidelined. The failure to insist it be treated as a red-line issue reflects badly on all concerned.

Will the Leader arrange at an opportune time for a debate on freedom of speech? Colleagues may have noted criticism in the newspapers recently of the failure by the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute a journalist, Brenda Power, for incitement to hatred in respect of an article she wrote. If we really do live in a free society, then people who take what is not regarded as a politically correct position must be able to articulate that position. Unfortunately, that right is being impinged on in many ways, particularly in respect of small minority groups. We see what is happening on our neighbouring island, where people, even people in churches or religious schools, who advocate to pupils in favour of heterosexual marriage or the benefit of a child having a mother and a father, are being charged with discrimination or incitement to hatred. Some have had to leave their jobs. We urgently need a debate on these issues and this House would be a good forum in which to have it. There are many liberal-minded people in this Chamber who I am sure would be willing to launch a campaign for a referendum on recognising freedom of speech as a right deserving of constitutional protection.