Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Goodness me, it will be hard to capture it all in five minutes. I will come to what the Minister of State said at the end of my contribution.

There was a fantastic endorsement by Senator John Dolan. Last night we received a briefing and one of the points Mervyn Taylor of Sage made was that instead of expressing indignation, which we all express and are good at here - I am getting even better at it - we should introduce legislation. It is about learning lessons such as the painful lesson we learned from the situation involving the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. The Bill is about all of the lessons we have learned and all of the situations we have come across in our working lives, including those when we acted and those when we failed to act. It is about ensuring we understand what abuse is and know what to do when we see it, including how to stop it. I really appreciate what Senator John Dolan said.

Senator Colm Burke said the Bill had been carefully drafted and opened up an important discussion. If we have done nothing else, we have opened up a serious and important discussion about vulnerable adults and how we live our lives. Many years ago, when I was a community worker in Finglas, nobody had heard of the sexual abuse of children. It was an accidental injury. Now we know that it happens. In the same way, we are transforming our understanding of a problem, the scale of which we do not fully appreciate.

I thank Senator Keith Swanick for endorsing and co-signing the Bill and sharing not only the shame felt at what had happened in Áras Attracta but also the view that we should try to do something about it, including highlighting the importance of independent advocates.

Senator Victor Boyhan talked about the legislation empowering us to respond by providing for clear pathways. He also said there should not be a undue delay in bringing it forward.

Senator Máire Devine talked about the elements of awareness, understanding procedures, good practice, mandatory reporting and the need for clarity when abuse was noted. I would welcome suggestions for improvements. The Bill is a good starting point, but it needs more work.

I appreciate Senator Frances Black's concrete examples of vulnerable persons, including those living in isolated rural communities, being subject to abuse, including from dealers at the door. Senator Lynn Ruane spoke eloquently her father in referring to the the under-use and overuse of medication, both of which are equally wrong.

There was also a great endorsement by Senator Michael McDowell, a lawyer, and I was scared. There are a lot of them here.