Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I thank him for highlighting some of the issues that his Department believes will arise. I was delighted to hear from Senator Ward who has experience in this field and rightly said that the courts name it for what it is, which is child exploitation. I thank the Minister of State for the fact that the Government has not opposed the Bill so it could have been an awful lot worse. We look forward to further discussions in committee but, more importantly, with the Minister and I hope that we will be able to progress on to the next level.

As all of the Senators have said here today, let us name this for what it is and where there is a will there is a way. I have highlighted the fact that it was not easy to do this work and just because it has not been done before does not mean that we cannot do it. I hope to work very closely, along with the Minister for Justice, to change this going forward and I look forward to seeing this through. Anything is possible and it might be possible to have this work done by the end of the year.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and I thank all of the Senators who expressed their support for this Bill today.