Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 7, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “(6) The Minister shall, within one year of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas, and the relevant committee, evaluating the effectiveness of the system for recording warnings issued by the Garda Síochána pursuant to subsection (1).”.

What we have just been discussing is also at the heart of my amendment. We all want this legislation introduced as quickly as possible. We want it to be effective in protecting women who are accessing services. The Minister said a few minutes ago that there is no system in place to record a warning. If there is no system in place, how does this legislation work? Deputy Smith was talking about other offences. Let us take theft, for example. Theft is an offence so there is no need to record that. It is recorded as an offence. For some reason, and I do not understand the thinking behind it, this legislation includes a requirement for a prior warning before an offence is committed. That is a very unusual situation in law. The proposal is that people get one chance and on the second occasion, an offence is committed. It is hard to understand why that is the case. Going back to first principles, why is it not an offence to protest on the first occasion against people who are accessing services that are legal in the State? I struggle to understand why an initial warning is required before it becomes an offence on the second occasion. There are many logistical problems associated with that because there is no system. If there is no system, my concern is that this law will not be effective. How is this law operated? How does the Garda operate this law if it has no means of identifying that there was an original warning? It is a strange way to go about it. I do not know what the rationale is for requiring an original warning.

We want to get this legislation through. My concern is that it will not be effective and that is why I am asking that a report on its operation will be produced. My fear is that in 12 months, or even in six months, we will be saying that we made a mistake with this legislation and it is not operational from the Garda point of view because there is no means of recording. I do not want to hold up the legislation or other aspects of it but this issue goes to the core of the Bill. I have concerns about whether what is proposed is workable. At a minimum, I am suggesting a report after 12 months. I look forward to the Minister's response.