Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

This is an important Bill and I am delighted we have an opportunity to focus on victims, who in many cases feel and are alienated from the justice system. The debacle that has gone on in the past week started with the Minister's hastily arranged press conference and that is an appalling indictment of him. I hope he will take on board some of the proposals contained in Deputy Shatter's Bill, the aim of which is to accord rights and recognition to victims. The programme for Government contained a commitment to have a victims' support agency up and running but there is still no sign of it. Nor is there any reference to a Bill relating to victims of crime in the legislative programme published in 2008. Last week the Minister indicated he would bring forward ground-breaking legislation, but while I welcome it, the only commitment he made is to take into account the victim impact statement of family members of victims of homicide. That is only one aspect of the matter. The Bill brought to the House by Deputy Shatter is far reaching. It could be 2009 or 2010 before we see the Bill promised by the Minister, as we do not know when it will be ready. Given the slow rate of progress of the Government, it could kick it even further into touch. Will the Government Bill create an independent statutory commission for victims of crime, as this Bill will? Will the courts be furnished with victim impact statements prior to sentencing as provided for in this Bill? Will providing information to victims concerning progress in investigation and prosecution of all alleged offences be included in the Minister's proposals? Will the Minister oblige the DPP to keep victims informed of all stages of criminal prosecution? Will he create an updated statutory victims' rights charter? Will the Government Bill establish a complaints system for victims whose rights are not respected? Will it impose statutory obligations on relevant State agencies to ensure victims are informed of services available to assist them? Will it impose statutory obligations to inform victims of an application made to the parole board by a convicted offender for early release? Will it require victims to be informed of the early release or escape of a convicted person? Will the Minister's proposals oblige the DPP to explain the reasons for not initiating prosecution? All these important proposals are included in this legislation. Based on what the Minister said last night and in his press statement, I do not believe he will address the concerns and needs of victims.

As many speakers have said tonight, victims find our justice system alien to them. They can be confused because they are not legal experts in their own right. There is no obligation to consult them on how the prosecution is proceeding and they often feel let down and feel that the law is not on their side or there to protect them. While this Bill is not necessarily a reaction to them, there have been many high-profile cases recently. The statement of the family of the late Siobhan Kearney was not delivered in court. They were forced to deliver it in the midst of a media scrum outside the court, which left many people feeling very uncomfortable. If the Government were to accept the Bill, something like that would not happen and that family would have been allowed to deliver their impact statement to the court. It could have been taken into account by the judge prior to sentencing.

We are dealing with real people who feel alienated by the system as it stands. Deputy Enright has spoken about rape victims who find it so difficult to come forward. Deputies on both sides of the House have received letters from the Rape Crisis Centre encouraging us to adopt this Bill to address the needs of victims by consulting them on how their cases are proceeding. That is not happening at the moment. Many people do not come forward because they feel they will not be given the necessary recognition or consultation and that their needs and concerns will not be addressed. Let us not play politics with this and let us address the real needs of victims. We have heard considerable negativity from the Government side regarding this Bill. It is about real people who are victims whose needs are not being addressed. I have no confidence that the Minister will introduce anything in the lifetime of this Dáil. I ask him to allow the Bill to go forward to Committee where we can thrash out the issues with which the Minister disagrees. Let us use it as a starting point. Let us ensure that victims are included and recognised in our justice system.

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