Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party Senators I would like to pay tribute to our colleague Denis Landy, who has tendered his resignation today due to ill-health. We in the Labour group were all very sorry to hear of this resignation. I want to pay tribute to him, and to thank you, a Chathaoirligh, and all our colleagues from the other groups, who have spoken so warmly and kindly about Denis's time here, and have paid such nice tributes to him. Clearly, as someone who served with him in the Seanad since 2011, I am well aware of all of the work he has done, of his long career in local government, the pride he took in local government, the huge amount of energy and effort he put into maintaining close connections with councillors and the huge work he did on their behalf. Senator Boyhan has spoken very strongly about that. I pay tribute to his work through the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, his work as a trade union representative, which I thank my colleagues for remembering, and the strong advocacy in which he engaged for those involved in local government. I know that Dennis will continue to remain active in the Labour Party, and I am glad he will. On behalf of the Labour group, I wish him and his family very well in the future and say again how sorry we are that he has decided to resign.

I also pay tribute to the former Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, for her work, in particular the huge amount of work she did on pioneering legislation around sex offences and domestic violence. Committee Stage of the Domestic Violence Bill 2017 will be taken tonight in the Seanad. She was a strong champion for equality, for women's rights in particular, and it was good to work with her. Having said that, her position had become untenable. As the Labour Party leader Deputy Brendan Howlin said yesterday and again yesterday evening, it became untenable for her to continue, given the revelations that had come out.

I also note the role of Deputy Alan Kelly in pursuing the truth through parliamentary questions, getting only obstructionism and a drip-feed of answers from the Department of Justice and Equality. If the Department had been more open and the answers had been forthcoming, we would never have had the unedifying spectacle we have had in recent days, of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin seeking truth through other means and raising the spectre of a general election which nobody wanted. The Labour Party played the role of an honest broker in this. Deputy Kelly's questions, pursued through the parliamentary procedural route, should have brought forward the answers that we are still only getting now. As Deputy Kelly has pointed out, there are still questions to be asked, particularly of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charlie Flanagan, and we look forward to getting the answers to those over the coming days.It is vital that we get them expeditiously and see true reform of the Department of Justice and Equality. Under a previous Labour Party coalition Government, that Department was split into equality and law reform on the one hand and justice on the other. We should see similar far-reaching reform now on foot of these revelations. We will support the Sinn Féin call to invite the Taoiseach in here on that ground. We will also ask that the Minister for Justice and Equality come here to answer the questions that Deputy Kelly raised in the Dáil over the coming days.