Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fine Gael group, we are delighted that this piece of extremely important legislation has got over the line. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is absolutely right, there was robust debate here both on Second Stage and on Committee Stage, and indeed on Committee Stage resumed. That is the way it should be because everyone here wants to get this right.

This Bill will deeply affect the lives of people who are the victims of domestic violence. We have a duty of care to our citizens who find themselves in that difficult and totally unacceptable situation. I would also like to concur with the Minister of State about the officials. The Department of Justice and Equality has got some bad publicity in recent times and some of it justified. The officials who work with the Minister of State, and I have known some of them since he became a Minister of State, work passionately and tirelessly, as they did with Senator Ó Ríordáin when he was in Deputy Stanton's position. I have to say that has to be acknowledged.