Mr. Muiris O'Connor:

Yes, we have progressed that. It was the intent under section 6 to protect service providers from harassment not only in and around their place of work but also in their homes and in their wider public lives. As I set out in the opening statement, with advices from the Attorney General and the OPC, we are satisfied that our intention to afford that protection to service providers is already provided for in existing law. The Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 deals with harassment and Part 4 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022 provides for a strengthening of Garda powers to protect people from harassment. Harassment and stalking provisions are being added to the 1997 Act in the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022.

The advice we received is that it is unnecessary for us to try to cover the issue of harassment outside the safe access zones in the safe access Bill and any attempt by us to re-describe the offence of harassment in the context of termination of pregnancy services might simply create complexity in prosecuting harassment under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

We are satisfied that the legislation in place, and particularly the strengthening of it through the criminal justice Bill on harassment and stalking, will be adequate to fulfil our policy intentions of protecting staff from harassment both inside and outside their place of work.