Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Government and I can agree fully with the sentiments expressed in regard to the needs of victims of crime, innocent people who, through no fault of their own, have suffered hurt, isolation and unbearable trauma, all because something completely outside their control happened. We, as a society, must help them cope and, where possible, overcome this. The impact of their experience can be immense and life-changing. It behoves us to champion their needs.

To that end the Government is advancing the initiative I announced last Thursday. I did not realise the Fine Gael Party was going to bring forward its Bill. Such a Bill is never put down until Friday, as it was on this occasion when it was indicated to the Chief Whip on Friday. I got Government consent on Tuesday of last week to the most far-reaching and radical set of proposals for victims of crime since the foundation of the State, which I announced on Thursday. I intend to bring forward my Bill. Deputy Shatter can put a spin on it by saying it could be any spring, the reality is that it will be next spring. The proposals which I have announced go far beyond the scope of the Fine Gael Bill are ones which I believe will work. They will be in line with Bunreacht na hÉireann and will do far more for victims and their families — and that, after all, is what this is all about.

While I agree with the sentiments behind the Bill, there are major problems with this latest Fine Gael effort, as presented. There are practical problems at its core which could undermine what it seeks to create. These major defects leave the Government with no option but to oppose the Bill. A more comprehensive, radical and executable legislative and administrative response is needed for victims and their families. The justice for victims initiative is that response. It is the next phase in our national response to the needs of the victims of crime.

I am glad to see there are representatives in the Public Gallery from the groups that work with victims of crime. All of us in this House unite with them in their objective, which is to promote and improve the position of victims of crime in the criminal justice system. We are committed to this. I am personally committed to it because during my time as a solicitor I was acutely aware of the difficulties victims put up with in regard to offences committed against their families.

We are implementing improvements to support their work and through the new arrangements I am implementing, including the establishment of a victims of crime consultative forum, we are providing them with an avenue for putting forward their views.

It is appropriate for me to avail of this opportunity to thank those volunteers at local level who work tirelessly and largely unrecognised to provide a service to the victims of crime. Their sense of responsibility and support to the community deserves the praise, admiration and support of society in general and the Government and this House in particular.

That is why the Government has been active in promoting and developing the supports for victims of crime. That is why we are bringing forward more radical and far-reaching proposals than those advanced by my colleagues on the benches opposite.

Addressing crime victims' issues is An Agreed Programme for Government commitment and a priority for me, as Minister. I made it a priority immediately I went into the Department some weeks ago. That is what the justice for victims initiative, which I announced on Thursday, is all about. It goes much further than anything provided in the Fine Gael Bill.

At the core of the initiative are legislative proposals to be contained in a new ground breaking Bill addressing justice for victims of crime. These proposals will reform the victim impact statement mechanism in order to grant victim status to next of kin in homicide cases, introduce new mechanisms to deal with an acquittal where compelling new evidence of guilt emerges after the acquittal, enable cases to be reopened where an acquittal arises from an error in law by the judge, provide for new prosecutions where there is evidence the original acquittal was tainted by interference with the trial process, including intimidation of witnesses, and introduce measures to restrict unjustified and vexatious imputations at trial against the character of a deceased or incapacitated victim or witness. None of the proposals I have indicated I am bringing forward is contained in the Bill before the House.

On my instruction, work on the drafting of this Bill has commenced in my Department. It is my intention to have it presented to the Oireachtas in the spring. A key principle will underpin the Bill, namely, the need to secure a balance, which is absolutely necessary under our Constitution, in the criminal process that recognises the position of the victim, while at the same time not interfering with the presumption of innocence to which the accused is entitled.

The Bill will provide mechanisms in cases where an acquittal arises that will allow those cases to be reopened in exceptional circumstances, subject to appropriate safeguards. The circumstances where cases may be reopened may arise from an error in the interpretation of the law by the judge, or where compelling evidence of guilt emerges post-acquittal, or where evidence emerges that the acquittal was tainted by interference with the trial process. Again none of those issues is indicated in Deputy Shatter's Bill. That is the reason the Government's Bill will progress this issue much further.

The Bill will also reform the law on victim impact statements and will, in particular, extend the range of persons entitled to make a victim impact statement to the court on the effect of the crime on them. Currently, only the direct victims of sexual crimes or crimes involving violence or the threat of violence are entitled to make such statements. The most obvious deficiency in the current law is that the next of kin of a deceased victim is allowed to make a statement only at the discretion of the court. The effect of my Bill will be that those most directly affected by the offence — not just the direct victim — will be entitled to make such a statement. In cases of homicide, that would most likely be the next of kin of the deceased victim.

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