Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I move amendment No. 13:

In page 4, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:

“Stalking

4.(1) A person commits an offence where he or she, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, stalks another person (in this section referred to as the other person) by- (a) persistently following, watching, pestering or besetting the other person,

(b) persistently communicating by any means of communication with the other person, or

(c) persistently communicating with a third person by any means of communication about the other person. (2) For the purposes of this section a person stalks the other person where- (a) he or she, by his or her acts intentionally or recklessly, seriously interferes with the other person’s peace and privacy,

(b) causes alarm, distress or harm to the other person, and

(c) his or her acts are such that a reasonable person would realise that the acts would seriously interfere with the other person’s peace and privacy and cause alarm, distress or harm to the other person. (3) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable- (a) on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years or to both.”.

This arises from a recommendation from the National Observatory on Violence Against Women for the definition of stalking to be more concise in the Bill. That organisation feels strongly that this does not honour fully the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission report or those specialist front-line and advocacy services that have called for a separate and specific offence of stalking to be included. It is important that it is included and that people would not need to be in an intimate relationship in all cases.