Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Mullins supported Senator Conway in calling for a debate on tourism and spoke of the need for value for money, with which I entirely agree.

Senator Quinn seconded Senator Norris's amendment, which I have dealt with. I hope I have given people a clear idea of what is in the CPP amendments. Senator Quinn also spoke on the issue of rural Ireland. Furthermore, he asked about people returning from engaging with ISIS, the so-called "Islamic State", and referred to the question of sanctions. He raised the possibility of the removal of passports and he may know that at EU level new transnational offences are currently being drafted which would apply to the scenario the Senator describes where people have moved from EU member states out of the EU to fight for ISIS in Syria and commit atrocities there. While it is being dealt with at EU level, I agree that it is also a matter for national states. We heard about the issue at the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality yesterday.

Senator Cahill welcomed the new national strategy from the Minister for Justice and Equality on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I absolutely agree with her on that matter. Today, when we debate the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015, we will discuss some very important supports that will be put in place for victims and complainants in sex offences cases. I welcome the fact that Senator Cahill is meeting with the DPP for Northern Ireland and that she has called a meeting for next Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Buswells Hotel on the issue of supports for victims of sexual offences. There has been a great deal of work done recently in Britain on the use of intermediaries for child witnesses in sex offence cases and that is something we need to consider in the context of future legislation in this jurisdiction.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh spoke on a specific and serious issue in Galway involving the eviction of a number of Traveller families and asked for the Minister, Deputy Kelly, to enter into negotiations with the Galway manager. This is a matter the local authorities are dealing with and I ask the Senator to table it for debate on the Commencement. Clearly, there is real concern among local authorities about conditions following the appalling tragedy of the fire in which so many children and others were killed last year. The Senator also raised the issue of home helps and that is also a specific matter where individuals are in hospitals and unable to be sent home because of the lack of availability of home care help. I ask him to consider putting that down as a Commencement matter for debate with the Minister for Health.

Senator Mary Ann O'Brien raised the serious issue of drugs and criminality, noting the very tragic incident in Cork where a number of people are in hospital as a result of ingestion of a particular drug. She referred to the UK law in this area and that jurisdiction's Psychoactive Substances Bill. The Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality held hearings on drug policy and produced a report. It took a similar approach in calling for an end to criminalisation for small amounts of possession, believing as we did that the criminal justice system may not be the most appropriate approach in that particular case. It is currently under review by the Government and we can look at that further.

Senator Craughwell asked about the Technological Universities Bill, which I have dealt with.

Senator Eamonn Coghlan spoke about rural Ireland and helpfully rebutted some of the points made by other Senators.