Ba bhreá liom i dtosach báire fáilte ar ais a chur roimh mo chomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Norris. Ba mhaith liom a rá freisin go dtacaím go huile agus go hiomlán leis an méid adúirt an Seanadóir Byrne. Is aisteach an rud é amach is amach gur ceapadh beirt Airí le freagracht ar chúrsaí Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta gan iad a bheith in ann a gcuid gnó a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge. Tá súil agam go mbeidh siad ag freastal ar chúrsaí sar i bhfad, mar léireoidh an cinneadh seo dímheas ar an nGaeilge agus ar an nGaeltacht mura ndéanann siad é sin.

I note the various reports in past number of days, some of which are deferential, about what the UN Human Rights Committee, so-called, had to say about various issues connected with Ireland's past and from which we must certainly learn lessons. Following on from what Senator Walsh and others have said, it is high time we reassessed our attitude and the attitude we present formally to scrutiny by groups such as the UN Human Rights Committee. The behaviour of Sir Nigel Rodley in particular was quite frankly a disgrace.

One does not have to be a staunch Irish republican to resent the attitude of this particular Englishman to Ireland's abortion laws, given the barbarity with which British abortion laws operate on a daily basis and the welcome in the 19th century within the British establishment for Malthusian attitudes, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Irish people in the context of the famine. Mr. Rodley said he was sorry that the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act did not extend to abortion due to, supposedly, a threat to the health of women, when he knows very well that it is the very ground of health that has led to such routine abortion in Britain. Not only did he ignore this reality, but he chose to suggest that Ireland was somehow unsafe for pregnant women. Not only that, but he described Dr. Tom Finnegan's submission that there was no right in the UN treaties or international law to abortion as breathtakingly arrogant. In private, he was even more arrogant. When told that embryology textbooks supported the proposition that life began at conception-----

How does the Senator know this if he said what he did in private?

-----he sneered, "Perhaps Irish embryology textbooks." We should take no lessons from these people who purport to be defenders of human rights.

The Senator is way over time.

Sir Nigel Rodley is in fact an abuser of human rights. Let us consider our attitude to these committees and their membership in due course and let our Government not be so fawning on them when they meet them in international forums.

Hear, hear. It is a corruption of human rights.

I had not intended to speak on the Order of Business today but must now do so as there was a reference to my having raised a particular issue yesterday with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald. I complimented the Minister on her excellent performance at the United Nations committee in Geneva and also complimented her on how quickly she has read into her brief. It was Senator Walsh rather than I who raised the issue of abortion. As the issue has been raised again, I agree it is an important issue, but I would like the record to reflect that I did not raise it yesterday. I only asked the Minister to deal with the issue of gardaí having to obey red traffic lights.

I would like to read into the record an article I read, which states:

The last two days saw Ireland’s human rights record being examined by a United Nations panel. Among the subjects discussed was Ireland’s law on abortion. The panel warned that the Irish State could still be in breach of human rights legislation on the issue of abortion - because it criminalises pregnant women who seek a termination following a rape or due to a fatal foetal abnormality. Particular mention was given to recent opinion polls that indicate support for termination for medical reasons.

This issue formed part of the discussion at the United Nations and was not raised in the House. I believe it is worth putting the above quotation on record. Discussion on the issue is ongoing. While debate is no harm, it is important that the full story rather than part of it is put on the record.