Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We all join with the Cathaoirleach in passing condolences to both families and friends of the people who passed away yesterday.

Our colleague, Senator Ruane, has again highlighted the concerns she raised last week with regard to the report on the body cameras. I will make two suggestions to the Senator. One suggestion is that she might send the link to the BBC report to all Members by email because that will ensure that we do read it. I can also suggest to the Leader that we do not take the next Stage of the Bill until the processes are published, so we can specifically ascertain what is going on. There is always a view that sometimes it is very simplistic, that this kind of legislation is going to be in everybody's best interest and that if people are not doing anything wrong, then they have nothing to fear. That is a very simplistic view. Sometimes the very serious debates we have here, particularly the nuances and intricacies of them, do not reach people's dinner tables. One hears, then, that there is nothing to worry about and that this will be grand, whereas the concerns which Senator Ruane is raising are real and are a reality and practice in very similar jurisdictions to ours and I believe we should be very mindful of them. Being forewarned is to be forearmed and I will make that request to the Leader.

Senator Murphy spoke about his desire to have the solar grant tripled. I am sure there would be plenty of people who would be delighted, not the ones who have already have these installed but plenty of other people who genuinely want to change their practices. I will certainly make the Minister aware of that.

Senator O'Sullivan spoke with pride of his excitement about the Andy Warhol exhibition, which is coming in the next couple of weeks. It is an enormous initiative and it took a great deal of work to put together, so I hope it is very well received and well visited. He also spoke about the launch of our friend, Máiría Cahill's book Rough Beast. I have nearly finished reading the book and, notwithstanding that it is a harrowing story, the events of the year in which she was raped, and the events of years of ill-treatment thereafter, which to me was so needless, nobody except the man was responsible for the events that occurred in her aunt's house. However, there were plenty of people who were responsible for choosing the hierarchical structure of organisations ahead of the interests of a young vulnerable girl. It is just disgusting. It is a very good read and she has turned into an absolutely super writer. I wish her continued success. I note her Twitter handle is Cahill Books, which means I hope to God it is not the only book she will write and that she will keep writing because she is very good at it. I thank Senator O'Sullivan for having raised that this morning.

Senator Keogan has asked for a debate on the bike to work scheme and particularly for those people she feels are excluded from it and I will organise that.

Senator Maria Byrne spoke about a chilling report by the State agencies responsible for delivering roads that their directive from the Minister to have fewer cars on the road, resulting in these agencies constructing fewer roads, or repairing the roads we have, is going to lead to significant death and injury. We all need to wake up. We rightly saw a response from Government in the past number of weeks to the increased loss of life on our roads over the summer. Some people said very swiftly that we should move to reduce speed limits around the country to save lives.

This is as obvious as the nose on our face. If we have roads which are in disrepair, or are not being repaired properly because of money being held back, that is a disgrace. That is particularly the case if we have roads which are not being built where dangerous roads currently exist. That is an even bigger disgrace. We all know we have climate targets to reach but that does not mean that we should continue to allow and stand over unsafe roads, where people's lives are being lost, in an attempt to somehow thwart development and to reach targets, where practices are the way we reach targets.

Senator Malcolm Byrne reminded me this morning that ten years ago, yesterday and today, the count was happening for the referendum to abolish the Seanad. I can remember Enda Kenny saying to journalists in Dublin Castle that day that sometimes the public give you a wallop on the face. It was probably a very welcome wallop and we have had a few more wallops since then. I say this with genuine respect, but I remember debating during that referendum and saying the Seanad will not reform and does not have the capacity to reform itself. I remember the people who were fighting to retain the Seanad viciously cutting the legs off me because there was no way that this was the case. Yet, here we are ten years later still having a debate. We all know the reasons why and that it is not just the responsibility of one particular party or another, because Senator Byrne has been a champion looking for reform since he walked into this House. It is incumbent on us now that a general election and a Seanad election are probably no more than a year and a bit away to ensure that we all have it in our manifestos, in sincerity, that we want to change the voting franchise for this House and to change the practices in it which many people have raised over the past number of years, and, indeed, for many years before that. It would be an ambition for all of us to ensure that it is in our party's manifestos. Therefore, whoever is in government thereafter will ensure that it gets into the programme for Government. I thank the Senator for having raised that this morning.

I do not know how to answer the request made by Senator Gavan other than to just acknowledge his absolute sincerity and heartfelt conviction when he speaks about this because he has been speaking about it for a long time. I, to my shame, have only in the past number of weeks paid any attention to this issue because of the videos and images of the children and women which are mostly always affected in situations like this. It is abhorrent that anybody, and I mean anybody, would stand up for regimes which would inflict such brutality, such mercenary behaviour and such downright inhumanity.We should take up the Chair's suggestion that a small cross-party group meet with the former Member, maybe just to have a conversation as to how we feel, not to allow an explanation, because I do not think an explanation is required, but just to try to appeal to that person's better nature that they not do this, for all the reasons that have been outlined heretofore. I will see if we can arrange that.