Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I dtosach báire, déanaim comhbhrón le muintir Mhíchíl Uí Mhuircheartaigh. Tá laoch ar lár inniu. Fear mór Gaelach, galánta, a bhí ann agus ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. I think the first time I met Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh was when I was a student of journalism.He was very kind to me when I was doing a project on the history of the GAA and told me many interesting things. The next occasion we met was here when he addressed the Seanad. He was always interesting and always courteous. He was the epitome of the Irish gentleman of the old style and a man who was universally admired. That is not something that can be said about everybody we encounter in public life. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

I ask the Leader if at some point we could have a debate with the relevant Minister about the ongoing controversy about certain books that are available in public libraries. Some of the material involved is highly obscene, inappropriate and certainly not material that should be pushed at children in the 12 to 17 years age bracket. I know that our President and the Fórsa trade union have been critical about protests. Our President referred to books being torn up by vigilantes, attempting to impose a censorship and calling for the protection of libraries and library staff from intimidation and protest. While that might sound reasonable on its own terms, what is unreasonable is that there is no mention by either of those parties of the child protection issues that are involved. Given how dangerous these are, we cannot on the one hand be talking about the worrying attitude of men towards women in our society, the worrying state of the mental health of young people and so on, while at the same time be endorsing or facilitating material that is inappropriate for young people in their personal development being pushed under the guise of helping people's personal development.

In the light of that, while there must be standards to protest, the rudeness of some protesters and the performative tearing up of a book that someone purchased is really beside the point. Our President and Fórsa should first and foremost be talking about the inappropriateness of child inappropriate material being made available-----