I am grateful and welcome the opportunity to comment on the Bill. To remind people how we get to a stage like this in a democracy, people bring forward ideas, concerns or observations regarding how our criminal law system operates. In a political party like mine, Fianna Fáil, we try to take these on board and prepare position papers on them and put those out to expert and stakeholder groups to get their views on them. They then eventually form part of a party political manifesto. Those expert stakeholders will also make their views known to other parties and in this case, they form part of a programme for Government. It is a bottom-up process where ordinary people may express their views on the law, gaps in the law and concerns about perhaps particular laws that need to be amended or some laws that are not actually in place at all and need to be put in place. They become part of a programme for Government. In the case of justice, it is the role and responsibility of the Minister for justice to do their best to implement those laws. I regard this as an omnibus Bill, where the Minister is trying to successfully bring several issues the Government parties made commitments on in its programme for Government. It is his role to bring those before this House and to enact them. In that sense, it is democracy at work and I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on what I believe is a significant and far-reaching Bill. Is it perfect and is it likely to be perfect? Probably not, and future Ministers for justice will have to come back and do more work and respond to the needs of society as they evolve. However, it responds to real challenges we face at present in our justice system and delivers on important commitments in the programme for Government. People voted for parties on the basis of what we committed to in the programme for Government. That is why Deputy O'Callaghan is the Minister for justice. It also speaks to something deeper, which is how we as legislators seek to do our best to uphold the dignity, safety and justice for people in our society who often find themselves at their most vulnerable. It also seeks to address the practical requirements around things as normal as licensing laws to try to clarify some of the issues in that regard. Before coming into parliamentary political life, I practised for a decade as a psychotherapist and I sat with people in moments where they felt broken, ashamed, frightened or unsure of their place in the world. I probably experienced many of those feelings myself. Many of those who came through my door had experienced some kind of trauma, sometimes sexual trauma, coercion or other kinds of emotional impact in their lives. I learned this trauma often happens in silence but the impacts echo through every part of a person's life. That experience has stayed with me and has also, in part, shaped my understanding of the justice system and the need for trauma-informed practices, as well as the immense courage required for victims to come forward. It is from that perspective that I strongly welcome several elements of this Bill, particularly those dealing with sexual offences, privacy and exploitation. Without getting into too much detail, I want to make a passing comment about the notes of a psychotherapist because they can differ from time to time. In my experience, it is not a diary of every single word a client comes to tell you. You do not record in writing every single word. That is not your responsibility and not why they have come to you. It is your response, how you contain what they are saying, how you respond and how you perceive the impact that this particular experience has had on them, what their needs are as a victim of that particular experience. They are two very brief things I see as the role of a psychotherapist. It is not to write down word for word - almost in evidence or to record in evidence - with a view to this coming before a court. It is doing your best as a psychotherapist in the role to respond and to hear the key things that particular client has experienced. I know the sacredness of that therapeutic space and it is not exclusive to therapy. The previous speaker referred to other professionals who have what could be considered a sacred or secretive space in which people convey information on the basis that this information will not ever be betrayed. The law, as the Minister said, governing disclosure of these records was significantly reformed almost ten years ago with the introduction of the Criminal Evidence Act. The intention was a good one, to strike a fair balance between an accused person's right to a fair trial and a complainant's right to privacy. The intention was that a judge, following a proper hearing, would decide whether any part of those records was relevant and ought to be disclosed but in practice, perhaps that is not what was happening. Victims have sometimes felt compelled to waive their right to a judicial hearing, fearing that asserting their privacy might somehow be interpreted as obstructing justice, jeopardising the prosecution, or causing delay. As a result their counselling records, which are sometimes the most intimate words they have ever spoken, have been handed over routinely. This was never the intention of the Oireachtas. The Bill fixes any fundamental flaws by requiring a disclosure hearing in every single case. That is such a positive development. Victims will not have to choose between the privacy of whatever record of their counselling sessions has been kept and the pursuit of justice. As I understand it, a judge will examine the records, the victim will always have legal representation and the court will decide what, if anything, should be shared and under what strict conditions. I will move on to a number of other issues, one of which has been well covered, namely the practice known as sex for rent. I want to address that deeply disturbing practice and welcome the fact that the Minister is doing his utmost legally to ensure that it is prevented by criminalising two specific actions in this Bill. I support him in legalising the use of incapacitant spray by prison officers. Ireland is one of the very few EU states where prison officers cannot currently use incapacitant spray and the Bill removes that legal anomaly. This is not just to protect prison officers but also to protect other prisoners from aggressive and violent behaviour by some of their fellow inmates. It is a practical and proportionate measure that aligns us with international norms, while keeping the safety of both staff and those in custody at the forefront. On prison overcrowding and community sanctions, the Minister has gestured towards this a number of times in previous speeches. I agree that for what we would call petty or minor crimes, which are still crimes and which have impacted individuals, we should not be locking people up. It is not just about overcrowding, which is what motivates him. It is also about putting people in jail for what are petty crimes. Clearly such crimes do have an impact and a price has to be paid for them. However, as a society, we probably do not know enough about community service. In my time as a county councillor I was familiar with some community service activities that took place and were implemented by the Courts Service in conjunction with local authorities. These included the cleaning of signage and similar activities. It might be helpful to publish a list of community service activities to make people more aware. That said, I do not want to create a situation where people walking down a street who see road signs being cleaned know that the people cleaning them are prisoners. I am not sure the average citizen has any notion of what community service involves but I support the Minister in that regard. The DNA analysis in missing person cases provision is also welcome. I want to highlight the Bill's provision enabling the use of advanced DNA identification in missing person cases. Forensic Science Ireland believes that these enhanced techniques will improve the likelihood of resolving both current and historical cases. I come now to what I would call the housekeeping elements of the Bill, one of which relates to outdoor seating for licensed premises. I welcome the regularising of that which will mean that the courts are not taken up with such matters every six months or every year. I would like to make a suggestion to the Minister now, although I do not think he can include it in this Bill. I have written to him previously about it and I am sure others have done so too. I refer to victims of physical or sexual abuse, often pretty violent abuse, who are terrified when the perpetrators of that abuse are due to be released. I speak of cases where perpetrators have been successfully prosecuted, convicted and have served jail sentences, whether long or short. Sometimes the sentences may seem too lenient but victims are terrified at the prospect of their release. Female constituents in particular have written to me over the years because they were really terrified when they got word that the man who inflicted physical damage on them or a family member was to be released back in to public life in short period of time. They felt exceptionally vulnerable around them. I do not know what we can do as a society to provide additional short- to medium-term protections for victims of crime in those cases. I know, having brought this to the Minister's attention, that it is something that he will look at. It is a live issue for victims of crime, particularly violent crime. I welcome the Bill and thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to participate in this debate.

Sentiment score: 0.10