Ms Maria McDonald:

Children are very often indirect victims of crime. In an instance of domestic violence where the child witnesses the assault but is not actually abused himself or herself, the EU Commission has made it very clear that Ireland's current definition of "victim" is in breach of the directive. There needs to be a change in order to provide indirect victims of crime with the right to victim support services.

In that context, currently under this Bill, children who would be indirect victims and witness domestic abuse, would not be entitled to victim support services. Therefore it is important that this amendment is made. I think Facing Forward has referred to that.

The second issue is that the directive is clear that children are automatically entitled to special protection measures. One of those rights is that all interviews of children should be video-recorded. The difficulty concerns when they can actually be used in evidence. The Bill is unclear as to when that video recording can be used.

Also, as soon as a child turns 18 they are not entitled to those special protection measures any more. As we all know, however, they could be incredibly vulnerable. The Bill does not state that there is an obligation on the gardaí to engage in individual assessments to ascertain whether they have special protection needs. I think therefore that this is hugely important.