Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At this stage, I should not be naive, but in my naivety I was going to ask our colleagues to amend their social media accounts to reflect the position that any misapprehension or misunderstanding had been cleared up, but I know that is not going to happen. Of course the regulatory authority is going to check the sex offender register. Any suggestion that it will not or that it will just casually look over something is completely erroneous and is insulting to the people who will work in it. Everybody wants to safeguard children, and there are many instances in this country of safeguarding of children and other vulnerable people that go completely unspoken about in this House. To suggest that children are just going to be born and thrown to the wolves is completely erroneous. Our colleagues know this and are basically spreading lies about it. There are enough protections in the Bill, on which we have all worked very hard. Many of us have been involved over the years in many matters supporting people whose rights have been infringed, children whose identities have been stolen, people who have been subject to illegal adoptions and children who were trafficked out of this country. We have all worked with those people, but some voices have been notably absent in those struggles through the years. I really hope the truth can come out of this debate. It is completely offensive and incorrect to suggest otherwise.