Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is provided for in the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act. It sets out that where a person will be victimised, where there will be intimidation or where it is contrary to the interests of justice, a question about a person's private life is not acceptable. It is not for me or the Deputy to decide whether that is appropriate in the context of a case. It is very much up to a judge to decide that. It is important to have an opportunity to resolve this type of issue before a trial where a victim will have obviously prepared. We want the trial to go as smoothly as possible without being stopped and started again on issues like this. There is a view that people should not be asked about their private life if it is felt it has nothing to do with the case but there may be some instances where they are related. I do not have an example of that but a judge may decide it is important that somebody be questioned on his or her private life. As I said, it is important that judges be allowed to make such decisions. It is also important that we can get the matter out of the way in the preliminary trial hearing.