SEANAD REPORT: The use of a Palestinian teenager as a walking bomb was a violation of "every human, decent feeling", Mr David Norris (Ind) said.
He recalled that he had condemned the Israelis in targeting Sheikh Yassin because he felt they had breached another barrier.
"I'd like to call for a debate on this area, because it seems to me that another barrier has now been breached and a very significant one," he said.
"That is the use of a 14-year-old boy stuffed with explosives as a human bomb. This is a violation of every human, decent feeling. What pressure was brought to bear on that boy to allow this to happen to him?
"The use of child soldiers is forbidden under every international protocol. It's absolutely obscene that this should be allowed to happen.
"As it was painful for me to condemn a country I love, Israel, I expect others now to condemn this. I know that President Arafat has put on the record that he condemns it. I'd like to hear it from the Islamic clerics as well."
The leader of the House, Ms Mary O'Rourke, said they all knew that child soldiers were forbidden.
Opening the second stage debate on the Private Security Services Bill, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said some people were using the facade of security services to extract money from legitimate business. This was no exaggeration.
"Some very dark forces in our society have used the guise and veneer of security services to extort money and to engage in illegal activity, including, I regret to say, trading in drugs," he said.
The Minister said he believed this legislation would put the security industry on a sound footing and help to root out those who brought the sector into disrepute.
Replying to a query from Ms Sheila Terry (FG), Mr McDowell said it would be inherently undesirable for members of the Garda Síochána to engage in "bouncer occupations" in their spare time. The potential for conflict of interest in those circumstances would be enormous. He had no objection in principle to a prison officer acting as a security person in their own time at, for example, a rock concert.
One of his aims was to return to prison officers as much of their own time as he could. "I don't want to be draconian and say they can't provide services which are useful, in the time I am giving them back under the proposals I am coming forward with," he said.
The Minister added that he saw nothing wrong in principle with members of the Defence Forces in their off-duty time providing security services at big sporting events, as long as this did not conflict with their obligations as serving personnel.