I welcome the decision of the Government not to proceed with the progress through this House today of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016. The decision represents a significant climbdown. The Government should withdraw the Bill at this point because it is a complete and utter mess and has met significant opposition in the House.

Senator McDowell is correct in his recollection that I chaired the conference that was convened many years ago by the very interesting and highly intelligent former Senator Tom Morrissey. I note that today the Dublin Port Company has announced an investigation into data leaks which revealed the extravagant use of credit credits at the company. Why is it pursuing the leaks instead of investigating the circumstances that gave rise to the disgraceful, luxurious expenditure of €500,000 on credit cards? It is outrageous.

There was expenditure of €7 million on a garden.

The organisation should be ashamed of itself for talking about a leak. The information is in the public domain and we want to know how these things were allowed to happen.

A short while ago, Senator Bacik, a good friend of mine and someone I respect and admire a great deal, congratulated the Government on the passage of the Act that criminalised the purchase of sex. As I recall, I was the only person in the House with the guts to oppose that disgusting, smug, middle-class piece of hypocrisy. I predicted at the time we debated it that the legislation would lead to increased dangers for sex workers. In fact, violence against them has increased by 92% in the past year. The most vulnerable people have been left exposed by the provisions of the legislation. The World Health Organization, AIDS organisations and others came out against the Bill at the time, but smug, middle-class hypocrisy and voter appeal won out. It is a disgrace.