Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I will start with what I welcome in the Bill, namely, as Deputy Kelly just noted, the disregard for people convicted of same-sex activity pre 1993. It is really important that we get this done and get it done quickly because those people are getting older. I commend the work done by my colleague Deputy Nash, who was heavily involved in organising, first, the apology, which was the start of a suite of measures to right a terrible historical wrong. The measures in the Bill to disregard those convictions are incredibly important. I also welcome the provisions banning sex for rent, which is an issue mainly affecting marginalised women who are renting rooms and do not have own-door accommodation. This needs to be enacted as quickly as possible because these types of advertisements are still online. Senator Harmon introduced a Bill seeking to ban the practice in April 2025. It is really important that we do this. The Bill includes provisions on the use of pepper spray. I took part last December in a visit to Limerick Prison organised by Deputy Carthy and the justice committee. I was shocked by the level of overcrowding, even though I had already seen the figures. There are 600 people on mattresses in our prison system. The female wing of Limerick Prison is at 163% capacity, which equates to 127 people for 56 beds. There has been an exponential rise in the number of people with mental health issues in the prison system. Our prisons are at breaking point. Some 77% to 78% of all committals are for 12 months or less and that percentage is rising. This is something we really need to address. There are far too many people in our prison system serving short sentences. We must find alternatives to custodial sentences for that group. Violence between inmates rose by 31% in 2024, primarily because of overcrowding. My concern regarding the use of pepper spray is that, on the face of it, it might seem like a solution. However, having been implemented in the UK, there have been huge issues, for example with people being racially profiled. It is now even being used on young offenders there. That is totally unacceptable. No proper risk assessment has been done or published on the introduction of this measure. Arming prison officers will not address the underlying causes of violence between prisoners, which primarily are drugs and overcrowding. All of these factors are coming together to create a pot of tension. Adding pepper spray to that pot will not address the underlying issues. I want to see an outright ban on the use of victims' counselling notes by the prosecution, as recommended by the Oireachtas justice committee, insofar as that is possible. In an ideal world, they should never be disclosed. I have spoken about this with survivors in my constituency, even as recently as 20 minutes before coming in here. One of them disclosed to me the sheer terror and trauma of having her intimate thoughts admitted as evidence in a case dealing with a sexual assault against her. This is one of the instances where our justice system is overtly paternalistic. It was designed and has been administered primarily by men. However, this is an issue that disproportionately affects women. We need a total recalibration in this regard. Many survivors who have been through our justice system say they felt the process of going through that system was worse than the crime perpetrated against them. We really need to come back and look again specifically at the counselling notes issue.

Sentiment score: -0.13