Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join other Senators in asking the Leader to call the Tánaiste to the House so Senators can debate with her the issues around the serious matters that have come to light in respect of what she knew or did not know when she was the Minister for Justice and Equality about the campaign to smear the Garda whistleblower, Maurice McCabe. The efforts of the Labour Party's Deputy Alan Kelly in the Dáil have tried to ascertain the truth and have led to the situation we have now, where we see a discrepancy, to put it mildly, between what the Taoiseach says the Tánaiste knew and what it seems, from Department of Justice and Equality documents, that she did know.

I understand the Tánaiste is answering questions and making a statement in the Dáil tonight. We were, therefore, not going to call for her to come to this House today. The Labour group intends to propose an amendment to the Order of Business tomorrow if we cannot get the Minister into the Seanad tomorrow any other way to ask her to answer questions about this very serious matter of the discrepancy and the lack of clarity around when the Tánaiste and former Minister for Justice and Equality knew about the campaign to discredit Maurice McCabe and what has been said.

I am aware that the Charleton tribunal is under way and that we must be mindful that it is a tribunal, but these matters have come to light through parliamentary procedures and parliamentary questions as well as through the work of investigative journalists. It is appropriate that we call for a debate in this House on this matter. I ask the Leader to facilitate us tomorrow. I believe this is a reasonable request, given that the Tánaiste is in the other House tonight.

I also ask the Leader for a debate, in due course, on the issue of online safety, especially for children. This is in light of recent reports around incidents of grooming by predators. All of us are concerned at reports of vigilante groups literally taking the law into their own hands. I believe there is a requirement on all of us, and certainly any of us who are parents or teachers or guardians of children, to exercise vigilance in use of the Internet by children. We should have a debate in this respect. I am aware that proposals from Government are coming forward, which I welcome, on the institution of a digital safety commission. That will be very welcome but, as legislators, we should also be exploring how we can place greater responsibility on Internet service providers and on bodies such as Facebook and Twitter and so on to ensure there is safety online for children and that predators do not have the sort of freedom that we see they may do.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Ceann Comhairle for being present today at the launch of our Vótáil 100 programme. This is the programme of events for 2018 to celebrate the centenary of women's suffrage, of women first getting the right to vote in 1918, and the election in December 1918 in which Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the Dáil and to Westminster. I very much look forward to being joined by other colleagues for the events we will host in Leinster House in 2018.