Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)

I again thank the Minister for his attendance. I echo the comments by my colleague Senator Kelleher regarding the untimely death of Garda Kevin Flatley. I am sure I speak for everyone in the Chamber in extending our deepest condolences to his dear wife, Úna, and his children, Aoife and Erin. Our thoughts and prayers are with them in these dark days. They will face many such days on the long, hard road ahead of them. I say to them and to Garda Flatley's extended family that we are truly appreciative of the work he did. He really was a man of the community. His death highlights yet again the dangers the men and women of An Garda Síochána face when they put on their uniform and go out to do their duty. They go out the door and sometimes, like in this instance, they never return. We must never forget that. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for the work they do. Theirs is a unique profession. Not many professionals are faced with the possibility of not coming home safely. The men and women of An Garda Síochána do that every day of the week and I speak for us all in giving my sincere thanks to them.

I commend my colleague Senator Ruane on taking on this very niche legislation. As the Minister outlined, it deals with an issue people do not talk about on the doorsteps. For that reason, the Senator deserves even more recognition. Knowing her for as long as I do, I appreciate her sincerity in this regard and compliment her on bringing the Bill forward.

The Minister has been in the Chamber three or four times since his appointment. His attitude to this House and the Members of the House who bring forward legislation is refreshing and very much welcome. I commend him on it. The simple thing would be to close down such proposals and move on. In fairness to him, he has not done that and his door is always open. I very much welcome his approach.

The approach he is adopting in regard to this legislation is a very sensible one. There is a six-month window for Senator Ruane and her team to liaise with the Minister and his team to iron out the issues, particularly in regard to special advocates, the role they might have and the difficulties Senator McDowell outlined as possibly arising. There will be an opportunity to tease out all of that.

My two Sinn Féin colleagues mentioned victims. I am no expert in this field but when I think of parole, my first thought is for the victims of crime and how decisions made by the Parole Board will affect them. I am heartened in that I have heard little of discontentment in regard to decisions already taken by the board. That is a good thing. I certainly am not criticising the proposals before us but it poses the question about the need for them. However, I fully accept that, in Senator Ruane's experience, there clearly is a need for this legislation. We will have an opportunity at some point to tease out the different scenarios we have discussed this evening.I look forward to being part of that deliberation. I also look forward to us being back here safe and well in six months. It is to be hoped we will have advanced this legislation whereby we get to a point where we can pass Second Stage and everybody is moving forward in the one direction to conclude it as soon as possible.