Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus roimh an mBille tábhachtach seo. I will not say much other than to signal my support for this important and humane legislation. I commend the Fianna Fáil Senators, all those involved and the Minister on bringing this forward. These are the better moments in our society when family members and loved ones act out of their own grief and pain to seek change in some way as a fitting memorial to person they have lost but also in solidarity with others who may have been similarly affected or might be affected. That is always very impressive. A lot of us have great admiration, for example, for the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, which grew out of a family's loss of a loved one abroad. Their fundraising to bring him home led to them acting in solidarity with others who find themselves in a similar position. We see it in the countless good works being done by people who have lost a loved one or family member to Alzheimer's or cancer or who appreciate the help and support they got from a hospice. They go out and fundraise to assist others.The loved ones and families who have acted so importantly and well in pressuring for this change in the law stand in that same tradition of reaching out from one's own grief and loss to make a difference for the sake of others, who might be affected in the future, to prevent, of course, more than anything else. I add my words of welcome to David French and to Jason and Joe Poole, who are here today.

I also note what Senator Stephenson had to say about the wider toxic culture that exists. She mentioned in particular, and she was right to do so, online culture. In reality, no one piece of legislation can help us address the mountain of problems we face as a society as we grapple with the problems of violence, predatory attitudes and so on. We discuss it every single day in the Seanad.

One area of concern for me is that of pornography, which is doing huge damage to young people online. It is rewiring their brains and hurting their ability to develop emotionally. It is inculcating negative attitudes between young men and women, in particular, and is leading to a range of problems. We have been talking a lot these days about the need to ban under-16s from being able to open accounts on social media. In fact, there is a toxic trio online, which is not just social media, but pornography itself and also video games. I was reading about Grand Theft Auto only the other day, and this strange world that people can inhabit, which isolates them from others and where they are living out most unhelpful fantasies. In Grand Theft Auto a player can hire a prostitute or a hitman. I know I am straying from the immediate context, but what I am trying to say here is that while legislation alone is important, we have a mountain to climb in helping to make our society safer again, particularly for women, but also for men and children.

Let us all recommit to working to make our society safer and to making the necessary policy choices in order to try to achieve some of that. I offer my sincere congratulations and support to the Minister and everybody involved in this important legislation before us.