Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the amendment is being withdrawn but I have a query for the Minister of State. He said the reason the Department was not minded to include it is because the sharing of private information might be in the common good. I do not know how that can be a good thing. Every single one of us is entitled to our privacy. The information that I have at home, for instance, bank accounts, is my private business. Sharing it is not in anyone's interest or common good; it is my private business. Particularly in the context of the amendments as they relate to coercive control, and we are talking about men using power over women to control them, how in God's name could that be in the common good? Will the Minister of State expand on what he means? I can appreciate that it may not be suitable for this particular Bill but if it is not a criminal offence, and the Minister of State has told us it is not, why not? There is way that people being able to share private information to control and manipulate us is in anyone's good, let alone the common good.