Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, who is a regular visitor to the House. As I was overseas yesterday, I missed the first day of the new Seanad term. I commend all involved in restoring the Chamber to its natural beauty. The historical parts of Leinster House are looking very well. It is good to be back home in the old Chamber where many good laws were passed over the years.

As spokesperson on justice, I am honoured to steer this legislation through the House on behalf of the Fine Gael group. It is one of those unique Bills whose content was decided by the people in the referendum that was held last May. All we are doing is putting into effect their decision. I listened carefully to the points made by the two previous speakers. Senator McDowell raised some of the same well-articulated concerns during the debate on the referendum Bill. The reason we are here is to point out where there may be challenges and difficulties. With his immense legal expertise, Senator McDowell's contribution must receive due consideration. I hope that in devising future legislation, the counterbalance he articulated will be taken into consideration.

I agree with Senator O'Sullivan, always a man of wisdom in these matters, on the need for legislation to deal with hate crime. He is absolutely right that we need stronger, tighter and more effective provisions to deal with such crime. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality, where next week representatives of the social media companies will speak to us about what they are doing to deal with cyberbullying, cyber harassment and cybercrime, and their immense responsibility to ensure people's freedoms and integrity are protected. There is a bible of work to be done in this fast-moving area. Every week there are new social media websites, apps and other ways of communicating. There are platforms where messages can be posted for a few seconds before disappearing. That is the type of nonsense we are seeing. As legislators, we must try to keep up with developments and ensure people's privacy, decency and integrity are respected. The Leas-Chathaoirleach is Chairman of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee, which does fantastic work. It might consider examining the issue of hate crime and what we can do as legislators to protect people.

As the Minister of State explained, this Bill is largely technical, its purpose being to give effect to the decision of the people in the referendum. It was a massive endorsement of reform, with 86% voting yes. The only referendum in recent times that was passed by a larger margin was the proposal for the removal of Articles 2 and 3, which was almost unanimous at something like 90%. It is good that we are dealing with all Stages today so that the Bill is done and dusted.