I join Senator Darragh O'Brien in wishing everyone a happy new year and welcoming everyone back. In particular, I welcome the new schedule, the new timings for Seanad sittings and our new procedures, especially Commencement Matters, as they are now to be known rather than Adjournment Matters. I was delighted to have the opportunity to raise one such matter earlier. We will see a more efficient and effective Seanad as a result.

I am sure others, like me, will want to express outrage at the heinous killings in Paris by extremists at the Charlie Hebdo offices and related killings in the Jewish supermarket and elsewhere. I know everyone wishes to offer sympathy to the families of those killed and injured in these awful attacks. These awful events remind us of how precious our freedoms are in a democracy and the need to ensure protection for such freedoms such as freedom of speech. In the Seanad we debated before Christmas the criminal justice Bill, which will introduce new offences designed specifically to target those who return from abroad having fought in Syria and other such places and who may be attracted to extremism and related issues. The Bill is going through the Dáil. I wonder if we could have a debate in the Seanad about freedom of expression because that is the other issue, apart from security and criminal justice matters, in particular about the way we legislate for them. Many people have pointed to problems with the offence of blasphemy. I was hugely critical of the offence provided for as it passed through this House and the Dáil in 2009 as part of the Defamation Act. We could look at amending the legislation to ensure it will not operate as an unjustifiable constraint on free speech in a democracy. I ask for a debate on blasphemy.

None of the newspapers will print anything.