Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I wish our women colleagues here and women all around the country a happy, productive and satisfactory International Women's Day. Following Senator Humphreys, I am very proud to have been a Member of the Oireachtas and part of the last Administration which brought in gender quotas. It was very significant legislation and very important for women. It was important to help them to break through that glass ceiling.

The events of recent days and all the unfolding information in our media highlights the neglect of children in the past. We are all horrified by that and cannot escape addressing it, remembering it, talking about it and acting to remediate it where we can. On account of that, it also behoves us to ensure that we treasure, value and celebrate the children of today in an appropriate fashion. We must compensate for and not repeat the ills of the past. That is a great onus on all of us. In that context, I address to the Leader the question of teenage discos for very young teenagers. The Leader might ask why, but I was approached recently by a parent who spent a night by a child's bed not knowing until morning if that child would recover from an alcohol overdose at one of these teenage discos. I am familiar on a number of fronts with the phenomenon of very young teenagers going to teenage discos. The premises they go to may be licensed but no alcohol is served in the room reserved for the disco. However, there is alcohol around it and an introduction to drugs around it. There are also other issues and problems because the children do not have the necessary emotional maturity. They are very young and they are being exploited by the money they pay to go in and in other ways.

There should be identity cards and an age threshold. People should not be fit to access these discos until they are 16. They can have private things at family level or in schools. This is a very serious matter for many parents. I have met people with harrowing stories. It would break one's heart to listen to them. I note the trauma in the house after what the parent mentioned above described to me. I ask the Leader to bring the relevant Minister to the House for a debate. It is up to the Minister and the civil servants in the Department to come up with possible solutions. One is identity cards and another is a minimum age for these events. The phenomenon of very young kids going to these discos is shocking, serious and has awful implications.