Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. As we see the return of football, I commend the Kildare players on their terrific win against Meath yesterday. I am sure the Leader does not mind me saying it. I also congratulate the Kildare ladies who played against our other neighbours in Laois.

This week is Men's Health Week. It is a week when we raise awareness of preventable men's issues. The theme for this week is making the connections - check in, check up and check it out. That is an important message to send out to all men. We rightly spend quite a bit of time talking about women's health issues in the Chamber and it is important to acknowledge the health issues men may have.

I want to talk about domestic abuse and how it impacts men. The statistics indicate that one in seven men suffers domestic abuse but only 5% ever report it. Only one national group deals with domestic abuse for men which is Men's Aid Ireland. It operates in Dublin and has four outreach clinics. Its phone number is 01 5543811. We have no domestic shelter in the country for men who may need to take their children from difficult situations and it is time that we had. I call on the Government to explore establishing a domestic abuse shelter for men in this country.

We now know that 500 testaments to the mother and baby homes commission were not used which is very shocking. It is very clear that the terms of reference establishing the commission were flawed. It is very regrettable that the commissioners will not appear before the Oireachtas committee. Ultimately, the report is flawed. I welcome that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has said that he is seeking independent international advice in terms of judging the report and judging also these 500 submissions. It is important that we get redress for the victims who have been so severely impacted by all of this.

I know many of us have received correspondence regarding Justice for Reggie, the awareness campaign relating to dog theft and puppy farming. The campaign is named after a 12-week-old Labrador that was sold and had a really difficult death three days later. We need much more legislation. We need greater regulation of online selling sites. We need a pet register. We need stricter sanctions for vets who knowingly sign off on ill dogs. All breeders need to be licensed. I call for a debate in this House on the matter.