Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I am afraid I will be one more voice contributing to the rumour of the Minister's fallibility on this. Senator McDowell offered an answer to a question I had in my mind when I read this section, this dramatic proposed change to the law, which was, "How did this section survive? How did it escape the scrutiny of the Dáil?" I felt the same about this section as I did about the ill-fated so-called hate speech legislation last year in that here, it seems to me, is legislation that fails to understand and respect the necessary balance that must be there in order to protect freedom of speech, the expression of ideas and the expression of opinion and, on the other hand and at the same time, to protect people's right to their reputation.

Another thing that strikes me is that what is in this section is so out of kilter with what the Ceann Comhairle had to say recently at the beginning of the Dáil term, when she basically called out the abuse of politicians in particular and asked for all sides to work together to combat it. When I heard her comments at the time I wondered what she meant? Were this to be acted on or interpreted in a particular way-----