Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister very much for coming to the Chamber today. I also thank the members of Young Fine Gael, who are fighting for the cause, for being here. I thank them so much, because campaigning is what it is all about. It is about having fighting to get something changed and doing the hard work behind that. That is what those who are present did, and they brought the idea to the Fine Gael Senators. The fruits of their work have been brought before us today by Senator Ward.

The Minister will be aware of how passionately young people feel about this issue. We hear about it on the ground. We hear these horror stories. We all say, "Is it not great it has never happened to us?", but I would say there are a lot of people who it may have happened to who do not even want to speak about it. They do not want to think that it happened to them, because maybe it was something they did. They might think "Was it something I did? Did I walk away? Did I leave my drink unattended? God, maybe I had too much to drink before. What did I do?" We need to move away from that, because it is not the fault of any person who went out to have a good night, enjoy themselves with their friends and just have fun. It should not be the fault of any one person. It is someone else who is trying to take advantage. That is what we want to put a stop to here.

It is really important that our young people are taking the time to put this forward and to put the work into this on behalf of young people across the country. Now, people are going to be a little bit more conscious when they are out. They can put trust in a friend and let their friends know where they are and how they are doing on a night out. It is a habit and a routine, but it is a good habit to have, so that people will know where you are. Young people feel safe in that way. I would like it if young people, and particularly young women, were not placed in situations where they are vulnerable . It is never nice to be in a such a situation, to feel powerless, to feel that you no longer have the capacity to act, to feel that you do not have full capacity and when that has been done to you. It is shocking.

There are so many situations in which women can feel powerless because of what somebody says. There are so many times when women do not even put their hand up or want to speak at a public meeting or whatever because they are fearful of what other people think about what they might say or whether they know enough about all of this.Often, women do not even put their hands up or want to speak in a public meeting or session because they are fearful of what other people will think of what they might say, or wonder whether they know enough about the subject. The fact that we are meant to feel powerless because of a substance being added to a drink is even more shocking again. I thank the Minister for his time today and for his interest in this, and I thank Young Fine Gael.