Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The first issue I wish to raise relates to articles I have read in recent days on a French law to be enacted next month. It raises an important conversation point and I would like the Leader to bring in the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to discuss it. The law will stipulate that images of models who have been altered in any way to make them appear thinner in magazines and the media must come with a caution in the text. Getty Images has gone one step further and banned photoshopped pictures. It is an important conversation to have because it feeds into a wider debate on the narrative and message we send young women about how they should and should not look. Magazines should be transparent with regard to their use of photoshopped photographs. It would be an important discussion to have.

I also wish to raise the issue of young people entering education through paths other than the CEO system. A young girl contacted me recently. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund has paid for her to study in the film academy because it believes she has talent. The problem is the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has removed her jobseeker's allowance and will not allow her access education. This young woman from west Tallaght is trying to work her way out of poverty, but she is left with no alternative but to give up the course or continue it without any payment to survive. This begs the question as to how we move people off the live register. Instead of looking to the Department of Education and Skills perhaps we could bring in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to discuss its role in access to education and moving people out of poverty. I call for a debate with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and her role in access to education.

I lend my voice and support to the calls this week for progress on Seanad reform.