Senator Bacik calls for debate on the Criminal law on Prostitution

Order of Business

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Senator Ivana Bacik: I was delighted to agree wholeheartedly with Senator Darragh O'Brien when he said he agreed with the Tánaiste on the Croke Park deal. The Tánaiste stated very clearly the Government's position on the deal, which is that it stands. Irrespective of whatever kite-flying may be engaged in by individuals, that is the Government's position, on which the Tánaiste has been very clear. We had a full debate on the Croke Park agreement in February, but nobody on this side is against having another debate on the matter. As I said, the Government's position is very clear - the Croke Park deal stands. This has been stated at the highest level.

There are a couple of good news stories today that the House should welcome. The first is that house prices in Dublin are increasing. This is both good and bad news, depending on-----

(Interruptions).

Senator David Norris: The Senator's stance on socialism-----

Senator Ivana Bacik: The Senator should allow me to finish. There is clearly both good and bad news. It is not such good news for those seeking to buy a house. If we take this statistic as a sign of generally increasing confidence in the economy, we can take it is good news, despite deploring price rises for house buyers.

It is worthwhile welcoming the fact that Nuance International has announced the creation of new jobs in Ballsbridge. This is very welcome news.

I seek a debate on companies which are not abiding by Labour Court resolutions. I refer, in particular, to H. W. Wilson. A number of colleagues were outside Leinster House some weeks ago with the H. W. Wilson employees recently made redundant. H. W. Wilson is an American publishing company which had an office here. It made its employees redundant and is not abiding by Labour Court recommendations on redundancy payments. We have had a number of such cases in recent years and months. We might debate this issue in the House.

I ask the Leader for a further debate in the autumn on the criminal law on prostitution. I welcome the publication last week, on 22 June, by the Minister for Justice and Equality of his discussion document on the future direction of legislation on prostitution. We have had a number of debates in the House initiated by the Taoiseach's nominees' group, including Senator Katherine Zappone. We are all very pleased that the discussion document has now been published, as promised. It will be referred to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence. Senator Katherine Zappone and I have both been involved in its hearings. Other colleagues are also members of the committee which has been given until 30 November to report on the discussion document, having heard from interested groups and members of the public. It would be very useful for the House to have a debate based on the report the committee will be producing following the publication of the discussion document. I hope we will see a clear way forward for legislation after the debate.