オンライン国会めぐり討議　衆院憲法審、２週連続で開催

　衆院憲法審査会は１７日午前、今国会２回目の自由討議を行った。開催は２週連続で、新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を踏まえ、国会審議へのオンライン出席の是非を中心に議論。共産党以外の各会派はオンラインの導入に前向きな立場を示した。
　審査会では冒頭、衆院法制局の橘幸信局長から憲法の条文に関する説明を聴取した後、各会派が意見表明した。
　自民党の新藤義孝氏は「議院自律権に基づくもので、最終的にはわれわれが考えを整理し、方向をまとめなければならない」と述べ、オンライン審議の導入を求めた。新藤氏は導入後に緊急事態条項の創設が必要だとの立場も重ねて示した。
　立憲民主党の奥野総一郎氏は「非常時の国会審議を担保するためにもぜひとも導入しておくべきだ」と指摘。日本維新の会の三木圭恵氏も「まずはオンライン審議を可能にすることが今やるべきことだ」を賛意を示した。一方、共産党の赤嶺政賢氏は「慎重な検討が必要な問題だ」と述べた。（2022/02/17-12:17）

Two months after the Dec. 17 deadly arson incident at a mental health clinic in the western Japan city of Osaka, a local company supporting people with disabilities is preparing to launch an online platform on March 1 to allow former clinic patients to share their worries and experiences.
   Located only a few minutes' walk away from the arson site in the city's Kita Ward, the company called Shogaisha.com offers job consultation and other services, with its staff including people with mild developmental disabilities. Some of the victims in the attack were receiving support from the company.
   Former patients of the clinic "may have been traumatized" by the arson attack, which killed 25 people, the company's head, Yuichi Kawada, 49, said.
   As there are many people with anxiety who feel it is difficult to consult anybody, Kawada's wife Naomi, 49, who also works at the company, calls for such people not to worry alone. "Talking will help people sort out their feelings," she said.
   The online platform will be open not just to former clinic patients, but also to those who are not receiving psychiatric treatment but feeling isolated.