SOCIETAL ISSUES AND THE MEDIA
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
Equality for Traveller Community (28/11/07)
Cultures and Pluralism (26/09/07)
Drink and Drugs Abuse in Young People (30/06/06)
Press Council and Defamation (11/05/06)
Youth Affairs (06/04/06)
RTE and the Minister for Justice (22/03/06)
Public Disorder in Dublin (02/03/06)
Public Disorder in Dublin (01/03/06)
Equality for Traveller Community
28/11/07 - I have been involved in this issue for many years. One of my assentors for my very first election campaign was Nan Joyce, a spokesperson at the time for the Traveller movement. There is a need to ensure we take the proper approach on the Traveller issue. I listened carefully to the Minister of State’s speech but did not think it as patronising as others appear to have found it. It touched on issues which I consider important and the only aspect which I could possibly find patronising was the comment about television programmes. The criticism that not enough has been done is important, however.
We must investigate the issue of suicide within the Traveller community because suicide rates among Travellers are now four times higher than in the rest of the population. I would like to set targets in areas such as infant mortality, suicide and alcoholism, all of which have high rates within the Traveller community.
The idea of an ombudsman to deal with issues pertaining to the Traveller community is useful and sensible. However, having been a supporter of Travellers’ rights for as long as I can recall and having fought to ensure they received education and proper facilities in schools, I continue to disagree on the issue of culture, subculture and ethnicity. My point of view, that there is an Irish culture with a variety of subcultures, is not popular. People from Kerry or GAA activists thus belong to subcultures of the Irish culture. When I make this argument to members of the Traveller community, they disagree with me, which they are entitled to do. However, it is like apartheid to say they belong to a different culture from Irish culture. I do not mean to be demeaning when I say they are a subculture of the Irish culture but to point out that other matters are thereby brought into consideration.
Traveller groups often argue they are too often forced to change to accommodate others. I agree with the generality of that argument but not with the subtext that Travellers do not have to change at all. Everybody must change. I have argued with Traveller groups about the example of a mother who wanted to be settled in a house rather than on the road. That debate needs to take place within the Traveller community. I accept the argument that the State should be supportive, within reason, where Travellers choose a nomadic lifestyle but we are afraid to address these issues. I do not want educational standards for Traveller children to drop, but if they move too much they will miss out on education and thereby encounter significant difficulties as they grow older.
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Cultures and Pluralism
26/09/07 - I ask that the House would direct its attention to the fact that what is effectively a black school opened in north Dublin this week. I do not want a long debate about Catholicism, the Roman Catholic Church or the lack of planning. Instead, I would like a debate on the kind of community which it is our aspiration to create in this country, whether that is an intercultural society which will be judged by the engagement between one culture and another, or one subculture and another, or one religious group and another. This is surely what we are trying to achieve rather than trying to give separate space to separate groups in a manner more resonant of apartheid than anything else.
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Drink and Drugs Abuse in Young People
30/06/06 - I have received a number of communications from the former president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, Pat Cahill. Throughout his term as president he was concerned about the consumption of drink and drugs by young people. He has continued that work and he has written to me to indicate that the view emerging from the studies he is conducting is that there is a direct link between drink and drug usage. In many cases, alcohol is the gateway to drugs usage. This is something we have not discussed previously.
In light of the fact that the Irish Medical Organisation, among others, has called for the prohibition of alcohol advertising and given that we have been successful in making tobacco uncool, we should invite the Minister for Education and Science to the House to listen to the views of people who are dealing with young people and to discuss how we can make binge drinking uncool. … The Members of the House have views on this matter and should be allowed to discuss how and to what extent we can control the advertising of alcohol.
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Press Council and Defamation
11/05/06 - A matter that has been often raised is the press council and actions against the press. A story culminated yesterday. Two years ago, the story of a County Roscommon footballer allegedly playing snooker in the nude gave the country a laugh but undoubtedly damaged his business. He has needed to wait two years to prove his case, to the incalculable damage to his business, his family and himself. He endured much pressure before The Sun conceded it was wrong and paid him a significant amount of money.
Will the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform inform the House where the State stands on defamation laws and all that relates to them? This matter raises the question of whether there is a case for having an investigatory group within the press council to whom a person could bring a grievance against the media. It could make the case to the newspaper in question after concluding something was an unfair comment. Most people are afraid to go to court due to the costs, pressure and descriptive prose that will subsequently appear in the media. We need to make it easy for people to find justice.
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Youth Affairs
06/04/06 - We need to take a creative approach to the youth affairs. The issue I wish to address is the waste of resources and the opportunities which are not being given. We should try to broaden the range of leisure time experiences available to young people. As everyone knows, I am a great supporter of the GAA and help it out whenever I get the opportunity. It is doing tremendous work. Other groups, such as Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, are doing extraordinary work to develop talent.
If children from the inner city got the opportunity to spend a week in the west sailing or orienteering, or if they had free access to the Abbey Theatre, it would give them new experiences. For example, generations ago, among the most disadvantaged were those who ended up in Artane industrial school. By developing musical skills, Artane created the basis for half the show bands and musicians of every type. The young children who were committed to that school with no skills or no hope learned that skill. If these children had the opportunity to go horseriding, sailing, orienteering or something which they would not otherwise do, they might develop a commitment to getting involved in that activity.
I would like minority sports to be developed in the school curriculum, particularly at post-primary level. For one month each year, young people should be able to experience activities they never experienced before. I saw this work with a group of disadvantaged children in primary school who were introduced to the game of chess. They had never seen chess pieces but within one month, a number of them had become superb chess players and still play chess to this day. This happened 20 years ago and it is something about which I think all the time. We are missing an opportunity to provide access to young people. We are all aware of the recent cost assessment carried out by the Sports Council on the economic gain from sporting activity.
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RTE and the Minister for Justice
22/03/06 - I agree with the points made by Senator Brian Hayes regarding the balance in RTE. From my experience over many years, the whole world appears to have dealt with this, including Ministers from all parties and colours. Ministers have often refused to sit in a studio with people such as myself. I have grown sick and tired of it. On such occasions, RTE should not back down, and I have argued the case with the body before. Not only should it not back down, but if a Minister does not appear, RTE should not feel the need to be devil’s advocate on behalf of somebody who refuses to appear. This is constantly happening. It is the duty of the national broadcaster to carry out its purpose. This issue is not as simple as a Minister deciding he will not engage with a member of the Opposition, and it affects all walks of a civil society where Ministers refuse to engage with people who want to take them on. There is a wider issue at stake than what occurred last night.
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Public Disorder in Dublin
02/03/06 - I was disillusioned that within one hour of the events that took place last week we were either blaming the Garda or calling for the resignation of the Minister. That demeans politics.
I would make one plea about something that angers me. If I am at home having a peaceful weekend and I hear thugs being described as republicans I feel a surge of anger. I understood from school that republicanism was where Protestant, Catholic and dissenter shared the same space and engaged and interacted with each other. The idea of describing these thugs as republicans is unacceptable. It would be better to call them fascists, neo-Nazis or something else. They are merely taking on a proud title for which people in this country have fought over generations. These people are anything but republicans.
I want to know why a large proportion of our population apparently believes this march should not have taken place. Why have we produced several generations who do not understand the importance of protest and the right to demonstrate, and that our raison d’être for some 800 years has been to secure these rights? This question is more important than the rocks on O’Connell Street. The day we prevent free speech is the day it is all over.
Why have people like me, an educationalist, failed to inculcate the quality of tolerance in others? Cardinal John Henry Newman said the first quality of an educated person is tolerance.
Where is this tolerance? We have failed as politicians to inculcate an acceptance of diversity and difference in our community. There is no longer any space for difference. I would like to have an understanding of this deficiency because we could then solve the other problems. We can remove all the stones from O’Connell Street but that will not deter those who wish to riot.
This is the time to show we have grown up, are tolerant, understand the importance of difference, and can reach out and provide space for those with different views. A pluralist society is not one where there is space for everybody. It is a place where the engagement between different groups is positive.
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Public Disorder in Dublin
01/03/06 - I also would like a debate on last Saturday’s [Love Ulster Parade] disturbances. I hesitate to ask for it because it would simply consist of asking how many gardaí were there, what was the intelligence beforehand, and whether the Minister should take responsibility. The issue is simple. It is absolutely frightening that a large number of people in this country believe that the march should not have been allowed to take place and fail to grasp the importance of free speech and protest in a democracy. That is more valuable to us, as democrats, than anything else. We must also reflect on our failure as educators to inculcate tolerance in a generation of people. We, as politicians, must also focus on our failure to deliver the acceptance of difference as a national norm of democracy.
We should forget about the events and focus on the mindset that gave us last Saturday. Why is it there and whose failure is it? We must all take responsibility. During last week, I stated to people that the marchers were likely to be applauded as they walked down O’Connell Street, and that people would take no notice as they went about their shopping. I was completely taken aback and it shows how out of touch I must be with views held by people. I would like to discuss this issue because we have clearly disgraced ourselves again. We must examine it.
I will make a plea which people have heard me make before. I ask the Leader, on behalf of this House, to write to media outlets, particularly RTE, and ask them not to besmirch the definition of “republicans” by using the word to describing these intolerant thugs. Whatever else they are, they do not subscribe to the view that Catholics, Protestants and dissenters should share the same space. Perhaps we ask that they be described as “neo-nationalists”. That is what they are. There is not an ounce of republicanism left in these people and it matters little that they describe themselves as such. They are not republicans and it cannot be accepted that they should describe themselves as such. They must be ostracised from that tent immediately.
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Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas website
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
Equality for Traveller Community (28/11/07)
Cultures and Pluralism (26/09/07)
Drink and Drugs Abuse in Young People (30/06/06)
Press Council and Defamation (11/05/06)
Youth Affairs (06/04/06)
RTE and the Minister for Justice (22/03/06)
Public Disorder in Dublin (02/03/06)
Public Disorder in Dublin (01/03/06)
Equality for Traveller Community
28/11/07 - I have been involved in this issue for many years. One of my assentors for my very first election campaign was Nan Joyce, a spokesperson at the time for the Traveller movement. There is a need to ensure we take the proper approach on the Traveller issue. I listened carefully to the Minister of State’s speech but did not think it as patronising as others appear to have found it. It touched on issues which I consider important and the only aspect which I could possibly find patronising was the comment about television programmes. The criticism that not enough has been done is important, however.
We must investigate the issue of suicide within the Traveller community because suicide rates among Travellers are now four times higher than in the rest of the population. I would like to set targets in areas such as infant mortality, suicide and alcoholism, all of which have high rates within the Traveller community.
The idea of an ombudsman to deal with issues pertaining to the Traveller community is useful and sensible. However, having been a supporter of Travellers’ rights for as long as I can recall and having fought to ensure they received education and proper facilities in schools, I continue to disagree on the issue of culture, subculture and ethnicity. My point of view, that there is an Irish culture with a variety of subcultures, is not popular. People from Kerry or GAA activists thus belong to subcultures of the Irish culture. When I make this argument to members of the Traveller community, they disagree with me, which they are entitled to do. However, it is like apartheid to say they belong to a different culture from Irish culture. I do not mean to be demeaning when I say they are a subculture of the Irish culture but to point out that other matters are thereby brought into consideration.
Traveller groups often argue they are too often forced to change to accommodate others. I agree with the generality of that argument but not with the subtext that Travellers do not have to change at all. Everybody must change. I have argued with Traveller groups about the example of a mother who wanted to be settled in a house rather than on the road. That debate needs to take place within the Traveller community. I accept the argument that the State should be supportive, within reason, where Travellers choose a nomadic lifestyle but we are afraid to address these issues. I do not want educational standards for Traveller children to drop, but if they move too much they will miss out on education and thereby encounter significant difficulties as they grow older.
Back to top of the page
Cultures and Pluralism
26/09/07 - I ask that the House would direct its attention to the fact that what is effectively a black school opened in north Dublin this week. I do not want a long debate about Catholicism, the Roman Catholic Church or the lack of planning. Instead, I would like a debate on the kind of community which it is our aspiration to create in this country, whether that is an intercultural society which will be judged by the engagement between one culture and another, or one subculture and another, or one religious group and another. This is surely what we are trying to achieve rather than trying to give separate space to separate groups in a manner more resonant of apartheid than anything else.
Back to top of the page
Drink and Drugs Abuse in Young People
30/06/06 - I have received a number of communications from the former president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, Pat Cahill. Throughout his term as president he was concerned about the consumption of drink and drugs by young people. He has continued that work and he has written to me to indicate that the view emerging from the studies he is conducting is that there is a direct link between drink and drug usage. In many cases, alcohol is the gateway to drugs usage. This is something we have not discussed previously.
In light of the fact that the Irish Medical Organisation, among others, has called for the prohibition of alcohol advertising and given that we have been successful in making tobacco uncool, we should invite the Minister for Education and Science to the House to listen to the views of people who are dealing with young people and to discuss how we can make binge drinking uncool. … The Members of the House have views on this matter and should be allowed to discuss how and to what extent we can control the advertising of alcohol.
Back to top of the page
Press Council and Defamation
11/05/06 - A matter that has been often raised is the press council and actions against the press. A story culminated yesterday. Two years ago, the story of a County Roscommon footballer allegedly playing snooker in the nude gave the country a laugh but undoubtedly damaged his business. He has needed to wait two years to prove his case, to the incalculable damage to his business, his family and himself. He endured much pressure before The Sun conceded it was wrong and paid him a significant amount of money.
Will the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform inform the House where the State stands on defamation laws and all that relates to them? This matter raises the question of whether there is a case for having an investigatory group within the press council to whom a person could bring a grievance against the media. It could make the case to the newspaper in question after concluding something was an unfair comment. Most people are afraid to go to court due to the costs, pressure and descriptive prose that will subsequently appear in the media. We need to make it easy for people to find justice.
Back to top of the page
Youth Affairs
06/04/06 - We need to take a creative approach to the youth affairs. The issue I wish to address is the waste of resources and the opportunities which are not being given. We should try to broaden the range of leisure time experiences available to young people. As everyone knows, I am a great supporter of the GAA and help it out whenever I get the opportunity. It is doing tremendous work. Other groups, such as Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, are doing extraordinary work to develop talent.
If children from the inner city got the opportunity to spend a week in the west sailing or orienteering, or if they had free access to the Abbey Theatre, it would give them new experiences. For example, generations ago, among the most disadvantaged were those who ended up in Artane industrial school. By developing musical skills, Artane created the basis for half the show bands and musicians of every type. The young children who were committed to that school with no skills or no hope learned that skill. If these children had the opportunity to go horseriding, sailing, orienteering or something which they would not otherwise do, they might develop a commitment to getting involved in that activity.
I would like minority sports to be developed in the school curriculum, particularly at post-primary level. For one month each year, young people should be able to experience activities they never experienced before. I saw this work with a group of disadvantaged children in primary school who were introduced to the game of chess. They had never seen chess pieces but within one month, a number of them had become superb chess players and still play chess to this day. This happened 20 years ago and it is something about which I think all the time. We are missing an opportunity to provide access to young people. We are all aware of the recent cost assessment carried out by the Sports Council on the economic gain from sporting activity.
Back to top of the page
RTE and the Minister for Justice
22/03/06 - I agree with the points made by Senator Brian Hayes regarding the balance in RTE. From my experience over many years, the whole world appears to have dealt with this, including Ministers from all parties and colours. Ministers have often refused to sit in a studio with people such as myself. I have grown sick and tired of it. On such occasions, RTE should not back down, and I have argued the case with the body before. Not only should it not back down, but if a Minister does not appear, RTE should not feel the need to be devil’s advocate on behalf of somebody who refuses to appear. This is constantly happening. It is the duty of the national broadcaster to carry out its purpose. This issue is not as simple as a Minister deciding he will not engage with a member of the Opposition, and it affects all walks of a civil society where Ministers refuse to engage with people who want to take them on. There is a wider issue at stake than what occurred last night.
Back to top of the page
Public Disorder in Dublin
02/03/06 - I was disillusioned that within one hour of the events that took place last week we were either blaming the Garda or calling for the resignation of the Minister. That demeans politics.
I would make one plea about something that angers me. If I am at home having a peaceful weekend and I hear thugs being described as republicans I feel a surge of anger. I understood from school that republicanism was where Protestant, Catholic and dissenter shared the same space and engaged and interacted with each other. The idea of describing these thugs as republicans is unacceptable. It would be better to call them fascists, neo-Nazis or something else. They are merely taking on a proud title for which people in this country have fought over generations. These people are anything but republicans.
I want to know why a large proportion of our population apparently believes this march should not have taken place. Why have we produced several generations who do not understand the importance of protest and the right to demonstrate, and that our raison d’être for some 800 years has been to secure these rights? This question is more important than the rocks on O’Connell Street. The day we prevent free speech is the day it is all over.
Why have people like me, an educationalist, failed to inculcate the quality of tolerance in others? Cardinal John Henry Newman said the first quality of an educated person is tolerance.
Where is this tolerance? We have failed as politicians to inculcate an acceptance of diversity and difference in our community. There is no longer any space for difference. I would like to have an understanding of this deficiency because we could then solve the other problems. We can remove all the stones from O’Connell Street but that will not deter those who wish to riot.
This is the time to show we have grown up, are tolerant, understand the importance of difference, and can reach out and provide space for those with different views. A pluralist society is not one where there is space for everybody. It is a place where the engagement between different groups is positive.
Back to top of the page
Public Disorder in Dublin
01/03/06 - I also would like a debate on last Saturday’s [Love Ulster Parade] disturbances. I hesitate to ask for it because it would simply consist of asking how many gardaí were there, what was the intelligence beforehand, and whether the Minister should take responsibility. The issue is simple. It is absolutely frightening that a large number of people in this country believe that the march should not have been allowed to take place and fail to grasp the importance of free speech and protest in a democracy. That is more valuable to us, as democrats, than anything else. We must also reflect on our failure as educators to inculcate tolerance in a generation of people. We, as politicians, must also focus on our failure to deliver the acceptance of difference as a national norm of democracy.
We should forget about the events and focus on the mindset that gave us last Saturday. Why is it there and whose failure is it? We must all take responsibility. During last week, I stated to people that the marchers were likely to be applauded as they walked down O’Connell Street, and that people would take no notice as they went about their shopping. I was completely taken aback and it shows how out of touch I must be with views held by people. I would like to discuss this issue because we have clearly disgraced ourselves again. We must examine it.
I will make a plea which people have heard me make before. I ask the Leader, on behalf of this House, to write to media outlets, particularly RTE, and ask them not to besmirch the definition of “republicans” by using the word to describing these intolerant thugs. Whatever else they are, they do not subscribe to the view that Catholics, Protestants and dissenters should share the same space. Perhaps we ask that they be described as “neo-nationalists”. That is what they are. There is not an ounce of republicanism left in these people and it matters little that they describe themselves as such. They are not republicans and it cannot be accepted that they should describe themselves as such. They must be ostracised from that tent immediately.
Back to top of the page
Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas website