Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and thank my colleagues, Deputies Alan Shatter and Charles Flanagan, for bringing it forward.

As the time available is short, I will concentrate on the impact of these proposals on the immediate victim of crime, the person against whom the crime is perpetrated, rather than on the families of the victims, which has been dealt with well by my colleagues.

Sadly, the reality is that many survivors or victims who engage with the criminal justice system suffer either repeat trauma or what is often described as a secondary trauma — in other words, how they are treated by the State and its agents retraumatises them or, as some victims have said, can be worse than the original offence.

The way in which our adversarial system works is that the victim is outside the process. While many gardaí make an attempt to keep victims updated on the progression of cases, this does not always happen. In my experience as a Deputy, I have often been approached by either a victim or their families to try to ascertain where a case against an alleged attacker is at in the criminal justice system. This should not be how the system works. Frequently, there have been long delays which have not always been adequately explained to the victim, or prosecutions have not been taken or proceeded without adequate explanation being given. There have been instances where victims, family members and witnesses are in court but the case is not heard and no explanation is offered. Effectively, the victim becomes just another witness when the case eventually reaches court and the trauma they suffer in the meantime is ignored.

It is possible to deliver a systematic rights-based response, which becomes part of the healing process rather than of the continuation of the trauma and harm, and the Bill attempts to offer a solution in this area. Many aspects of the Bill would have a very positive impact on victims and their basic rights, such as the right to clear and detailed information about the process, how the case is progressing, the hearing dates, the reason for delays, why cases are not being heard, when the case is expected to be heard, etc. Those involved in the criminal justice system on a daily basis are used to cancellations and cases on lists not being reached, but those with no experience of the system can find this particularly traumatic.

We should remember that the victim arrives in court, usually without legal representation, whereas the perpetrator will have his or her legal team, comprising a solicitor and a barrister. Frequently, the victim is alone. The right to be informed of the identify of the garda primarily responsible for investigating the offence and to have communication with that person is extremely important. There is also the right to be informed as to the appropriate health, social or other services. In this regard, I refer to the Government commitment given last year to develop a sexual assault treatment unit in the midlands. Women in the midlands, in addition to suffering the trauma of being sexually assaulted or raped, often have to travel as far as Dublin in soiled, dirty and torn clothes for investigation and to receive treatment at one of the units in Dublin because of the lack of availability of such a unit in the midlands, west and other parts of the country. This is not covered by the Bill but it highlights the need for courtesy and compassion and to ensure that the dignity and privacy of victims is respected and protected. The lack of progress in delivering such units shows the lack of urgency with which the Government views this issue.

I wish to outline a typical case study so that Deputies and the public view this from the perspective of the victim and are aware of the situation. In the absence of Deputy Shatter's Bill and in the absence of a far more wide-ranging and appropriate Bill that has yet to materialise, this is what a victim of sexual assault is likely to go through.

A victim will arrive at a Garda station and disclose what happened to him or her, often in a public area and to an officer who may not have previous experience of sexual violence and could be uncomfortable. A statement will be made in a room designed to interview criminals, if a room is even available. After that he or she may undergo a forensic examination, either in a non-specialised unit or have to travel to a location where a specialised unit is available. The victim will return home and wait for news. The victim may not know the name of the garda dealing with his or her case because there is no protocol for the garda to keep the victim informed of progress. No one will tell the victim he or she has a right to get a copy of the statement and no one will send it to him or her. Likewise, no one will inform him or her of what to expect from the legal process, nor of what services or supports are available. A victim may contact the Garda station, but the garda to whom he or she needs to speak may not be present and any number of calls may be required. A victim may not know that the accused has been picked up and interviewed, despite having told the Garda of his or her fears of a response from the accused once he or she knows that the case has been reported. He or she may then be harassed by the accused or his or her supporters. In response to a call to the station the Garda may send a marked car to the victim's house making the community aware that something is going on, and that could continue for months as the victim waits, while his or her anxiety builds. In some cases that can lead to depression. Some 50% of survivors of penetrative abuse or attempted penetrative abuse take anti-depressant medication and 17% become psychiatric hospital inpatients at some point. He or she may bump into an acquaintance of the accused up to two years after the statement — the average time between first arrest and return for trial is 118 weeks — and hear that the accused's legal team has informed him or her that the case has been dropped. On contacting the Garda, he or she may be told the DPP has advised that the case will not proceed but give no reason for that. We should remember that the DPP does not proceed with six out of every ten cases of sexual violence. That example has been provided to me by the Rape Crisis Network and it is something which I have heard from victims myself. Are Members of the House comfortable with the idea of waiting until the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who has played politics with the issue in the past week, brings forward a proposal? People should be aware of what they are asking of victims while they wait.

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