Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her engagement. I am happy to withdraw my amendment to allow the Minister to reassess the situation and come back, certainly on the sentencing guidelines. We suggested ten years, but I suppose there is a difference between poisoning with the intent of making someone unwell and spiking with the intent of committing a sexual assault or rape, based on the fact that the person would be unconscious. I suggest there is a nuance in this regard which is separate. If an individual is trying to poison someone, trying to do them harm, that would be like a common assault in respect of trying to debilitate a person by poisoning them. Spiking a drink is an attempt to temporarily make that person lose their functions so an individual could commit a sexual assault or rape. It is a separate offence. I refer to trying to charge someone who had committed a spiking offence under poisoning legislation, which has a three-year potential penalty. I think it is a separate offence we are talking about in this case.

I am happy to withdraw the amendment and to resubmit it on Report Stage, based on the Minister working with her officials and reflecting on the sentencing guidelines in this context. I again submit for her consideration, however, that there is a difference between poisoning and spiking. I know it may be subtle and the Minister may feel it is already covered, but I still contend there is a difference. As a committee and an Oireachtas, we must be quite sure that in our legislation anybody intending to spike a drink is looking at a sentence of ten years. I say this because it is more than poisoning. It is debilitating somebody's bodily functions for the intent of sexual assault or rape.