Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their presentations and Deputy O'Callaghan for putting the spotlight on this important area. Senator Black mentioned context. I have read the Oireachtas Library and Research Service paper on this. I always take the opportunity to thank them for their detailed work, which is tremendous. In 2018, there were 16,994 disclosures of domestic violence alone.

The Bill seeks to cover more than domestic violence. Reference is made to 19,089 contacts with Women's Aid. The purpose of the Bill which I welcome is to bring about an increase in the number of people reporting sexual abuse, leading to successful prosecutions. On page 10 of the Oireachtas Library and Research Service paper statistics are provided for a survey which are both fascinating and frightening. The survey found that 22% of victims wanted to keep the abuse private, 18% feared reprisal and 16% cited shame. If we add the three figures for An Garda Síochána, we get a total of 19%. A total of 8% believed the police would do nothing about it, 6% felt it could not do anything about it, while 5% thought they would not be believed. The legislation is welcome, but I hope amendments will be made to it. It is being discussed in the context of dealing with an enormous problem. In economic terms, we are talking about a figure of €2.2 billion, which is a conservative estimate. As a woman, I do not even want to use the economic argument, but it is really important for any Government that is serious about dealing with violence.

I have a number of questions for the delegates. Has Mr. Purcell received information on the O'Malley report that the committee does not have? He has said we are on the "eve" of its publication. I have notes that indicate that it was to have been published at the end of 2018. Then it was to be published in the first quarter of 2019. Does Mr. Purcell know something we do not know?

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