Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I give my full support to the nurses. I know how hard they work. They play a major role in people's lives from the time someone is a baby to when he or she dies. They do a great job and we should appreciate them. Everyone needs to get air. The Government must get together with the INMO, sit down and sort this out. The nurses deserve it. Nursing is a calling. It is important that we get this sorted for the nurses.

I wish to discuss Safer Internet Day, which is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for young people and to inspire a national conversation. This year, it will occur on 5 February. I raise this matter because we were appalled last week when we heard of the sharing of a video of a deceased person following a fatal crash on the M50. That the Garda had to issue a request shows how far we have sunk as a nation. We need to have the conversation that is called for on 5 February about what we can do in these cases. We need to debate the Internet and how to protect our children from a world in which nothing is sacred anymore.

I call for a debate on how to adjust our current legislation so as to bring the full force of the law down on people for their blatant lack of humanity. While we cannot legislate for bad taste, we should be able to legislate against social media companies allowing instant sharing of such imagery before the authorities have even identified the deceased. I was shocked by what happened and we need to address the issue. We need to have this conversation on 5 February and to ensure that this can never happen again.I will bring this up again with the Minister.

Going back to the nurses, all of us here need to support the hard-working nurses today.