Order of Business
Senator Ivana Bacik: I support the call by my colleague, Senator Norris, for a debate on freedom of speech. I am glad he raised the issue of the blasphemous libel offence being suggested by the Minister. I raised the matter yesterday. It is very dangerous to talk about creating an offence of causing outrage to somebody on grounds of religion.
There have been all sorts of difficulties in other countries where that has been done. It is very different from the careful legislation we have in place on incitement to hatred on racial grounds, although there have also been difficulties in prosecuting those offences. We must be careful about rushing willy-nilly to create offences in this way.
I did not get a satisfactory answer yesterday to my query to the Leader of the House about the arrangements for inter-country adoptions with Vietnam and Russia, both of which, I am told, have broken down recently. This has caused great concern and trauma to prospective adoptive parents in this country. The Minister of State with responsibility for children informed us on Committee Stage of the Adoption Bill that these agreements would be renewed or finalised but it appears this has not happened. I asked yesterday if the Adoption Bill would be before the House again soon so we can put these questions to the Minister. These arrangements are almost a side or parallel procedure to the Adoption Bill, and answers are urgently required about the agreements with these two countries, from which come the majority of children currently being adopted into Ireland. If the Deputy Leader cannot give me an answer, will he arrange for the Minister of State with responsibility for children to come to the House to answer questions about those arrangements, irrespective of when the Adoption Bill is before the House again?
Finally, what progress has been made with the civil partnership Bill?
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