I am more than a little surprised that I am the first today to speak to the incident outside Arnotts on Friday. I certainly hope that I am not the last to actually recognise and acknowledge that man, who was by all means alleged to have been shoplifting. I do not know what on earth can be shoplifted out of any shop that would ever result in the death of a man-----

As the Senator is aware, with anything that could be the subject of a Garda investigation, I do not want anything to be said that might-----

I am speaking to the death of a man in Arnotts. That is true and it is in the papers.

I know but I am just cautioning Members. As Members are all aware, there is an ongoing investigation and I do not want to put any court proceedings in jeopardy-----

I have not-----

-----by anything said here.

I am going to continue because I have not accused anyone of anything.

Continue.

I am stating the fact that a Congolese man is dead who went into a shop and was accused of shoplifting. That is in all of the media reports. No amount of investigations can ever explain or give any sort of reason that would be acceptable that a man would go into the shop and end up dead for suspected shoplifting. Whether there is an investigation and due process, as a country and as people we should never ever be okay that excessive force would be used by anybody where somebody ends up dead. Regardless of investigations going on, the facts are the facts. There is nothing that can be found in that investigation, to my mind, that will ever make that okay. Regardless of crimes in this country, we do not have corporal punishment or the death penalty.

People can surmise and guess all day about what happened, why he was shoplifting or why he was there. Regardless of any of those variables, the man is dead. If this was anybody else who went into a shop, was accused of shoplifting and was dead at the end, everybody in this Chamber would be in here at least acknowledging the man, his family, his friends and the fact of his death. No investigation is going to change that. Whatever happened was completely wrong and should never happen again in this country.

Hear, hear.

I want to speak about the really stark report from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre that was launched this morning, but before I do, I have to refute the opinion of Senator Keogan about Fianna Fáil, an incredible party that I am proud to be a member of. We are the longest-serving party in Europe. We were responsible for Ireland joining the EU. Seán Lemass and Countess Markievicz brought in some incredible programmes. Fianna Fáil introduced free education, free travel, Aer Lingus and, even to this day, the smoking ban. Ireland has the best education in Europe and a fantastic programme of supporting business. I am sure many of my party colleagues will speak of the same. It does not look like the same party that I heard of from Senator Keogan.

I was at the launch of the annual report of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. The figures are very stark. Almost 24,000 contacts were made to its services last year. That figure is up on 2024's and almost a third higher than it was just three years ago. What is going on with our men and women? How did we get here in 2026? These are not just statistics in a report, but people, many of them women. However, we also heard this morning of the incredible stories of two brave male survivors of rape, Tom Ryan and Jordan Gregory. All who call this line are reaching out because something traumatic has happened to them or because something that happened years ago is now hitting home with them. As chair of the Oireachtas women's caucus and as someone working closely day by day on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, I find these figures heartbreaking, frightening and totally unacceptable. This is not a marginal issue. It is happening in every county, town and community and is too often hidden by shame and fear.

I am especially concerned by the rise in cyber abuse and image-based sexual abuse. The report refers to 119 callers affected by this, up 73 from the previous year, with young adults and adolescents heavily represented. This needs to stop us in our tracks, because these are crimes. Sexual violence is a crime. Image-based sexual abuse is a crime. We are sending a clear message to everybody that this is not acceptable. I will post a link to the full report on my social media. I urge people to read it, but I would just like to give the hotline number for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. For anyone experiencing any kind of sexual violence, recent or historic, please know that support is available. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre 24-hour national helpline is 1800 778888. Go raibh maith agaibh.