Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil party, I join the Cathaoirleach in sending sympathies to the family and, indeed, to the Westminster family of Sir David Amess. He was a very fine and distinguished parliamentarian.

I also send condolences to the families of Máire Mhac An tSaoi and Brendan Kennelly, At a time when coarse language is something that is used all too often, we had two wonderful poets who espoused the positive use of language.We are the poorer for their loss but the richer for their having lived.

I will support the proposed Order of Business. There are a number of issues I wish to raise. The first relates to an article I read yesterday that shocked me. It concerned a man who tried to choke his ex-partner and was jailed for just three months. His defence maintained that the fact he was "off his face" on cocaine was almost an explanation for the brutal attack he committed. It is shocking. His three small children, who were witnesses to the attack, tried to protect their mother and stop the attack using Power Rangers swords. It was such a vicious attack, in which the mum was left badly bruised and with broken fingers. That the sentence was only three months long is completely wrong. We talk about Supporting a Victim's Journey, which is the name of a new plan under the Department of Justice, but this sentence does not send a clear message to perpetrators or would-be perpetrators.