Ms Fiona Growley:

I was pipped at the post. I, too, wanted to mention the victims' rights package. It is very important in rolling out that directive that it attend to the issues we have raised today.

I urge the joint committee to look at the Istanbul Convention for its benchmarking potential, not only in terms of the criminal law which is under discussion today but also what will be discussed next week. In the case in point, the stalking legislation about which Ms Margaret Martin has talked, the Istanbul Convention requires states to criminalises stalking. This is very clear not only in Article 34 of the convention but also in the explanatory report that goes with it. It will give the committee good and useful information not only on the ambit of the offence but also its content. The convention is the product of states, including Ireland, negotiating for two years on this issue. We, too, were part of the negotiations and the convention really needs to be used, as it is the basis for good practice. We will not be able to accurately compare data for crimes across Europe unless there are comparable crimes.