I thank the Government and particularly the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, for the decision to approve the forensic excavation of the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam. It was the right decision. After a protracted investigation and forensic research, the Minister took the decision. She came to the House before doing so and said she would keep the House informed. It would be helpful if at some appropriate time the Minister came back to update us on the issue. My understanding is significant quantities of human remains were discovered at the site last year. The Minister confirmed this to the House at the time.

The decision the Government has made, on the Minister's recommendation, is that several actions will be undertaken to include a phased approach for the evacuation and recovery of the juvenile human remains, as far as possible and practical, the use of systematic on-site ground testing and excavation to effectively locate the burials on this site and forensic analysis. That is very important. I commend the Minister because she said she was committed to it but that she would have to take expert advice and she did that. The lost children at Tuam, and all children wherever they may have been, deserve truth, recognition and ultimately dignity in their burial. The Government's decision is appropriate and welcome. We cannot forget Ms Catherine Corless who was brave and courageous and went out time and again, against all the odds, to highlight this issue. She put her personal story and that of her family into the public domain, which is never an easy thing to do, but she felt she had to do that because she thought it was important to explain the problems around this issue.

I pay a personal tribute to the late Seymour Crawford, a man I knew well. He made an outstanding contribution, especially in agriculture. As a Border man who was sensitive to the complexities of the Border and an active Presbyterian in his community, he was very much in tune with the sensitivities of North-South relations. I have just returned from the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and on all sides his name was raised as someone who was a great advocate of cross-Border support within that group, of which he was a founder member.

He always spoke very eloquently about the great potential of the island of Ireland in agriculture and how, through economics, we could embrace and overcome many of our differences. BIPA acknowledged his great contribution to Northern Ireland politics and those in the South for the way he had always advocated moving forward. I pay my respects to his family. He was an outstanding politician who brought unique experiences to politics, not least a practical and simple application of agricultural methods. May he rest in peace.

I echo the words of Senator Boyhan about the Government's decision yesterday on the Tuam mother and baby home. I commend the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, for taking the lead. I also commend Catherine Corless, without whose painstaking historical work, the matter would never have been uncovered. Senator Boyhan is right in saying the families of the babies buried in Tuam deserve truth, recognition and the dignity which was lacking in the past.

Will the Leader invite the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to come to the House to discuss the action he, on behalf of the Government, proposes to take against Saudi Arabia and the words of condemnation he will utter about the appalling murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in Turkey, about which various things have been leaked in recent days. There appears to have been a complete U-turn by the Saudi authorities which now acknowledge that he was killed in the embassy, despite the fact that they initially suggested he had left alive and then claimed he had been involved in a fight. There is a slow trickle towards the truth which is coming out, but we need to take a strong stance on the issue. I am conscious that we have extensive trade with Saudi Arabia, but we need to look at the issue and what other countries are doing. Canada is taking action on foot of condemnation of the incident. It is an appalling attack on journalism, free speech, democratic principles and the rule of law and needs to be condemned outright.

I hope the referendum on blasphemy will be passed on Friday. I would then like us to have a debate on reforming the incitement to hatred laws. The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 prohibits incitement to hatred on religious and other grounds. It is a much more appropriate way to tackle attacks on people because of their religion. Blasphemy is the offence of defamation against religion, not people. In Pakistan a Christian woman is awaiting a Supreme Court decision on an appeal against her conviction for the offence of blasphemy and the death sentence pronounced on her. This is but one example of the use by countries with oppressive regimes of the offence of blasphemy to repress religious minorities. We should be very mindful of this when we vote on Friday.