Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

The revision of the constituency has nothing to do this. The Deputy is as concerned about that as I am.

I am interested in restorative justice. The Bill lists at Schedule 1 the specific offences which must be reported, in particular offences against children and vulnerable persons. I believe in restorative justice. I take this opportunity to compliment the Garda Síochána, in particular in South Tipperary. We have all read in the media of heinous crimes, the victims of which, despite their trauma and having gone through the ordeal of a court case because the perpetrator refused to admit guilt resulting in their having to give evidence, have in their impact statements praised a particular garda or sergeant for their assistance. This type of contact is important. For this reason, I believe the restorative justice system should be enhanced and the Garda Síochána should have further involvement in this regard. As I stated, we must ensure people have confidence in the law and in the justice system. The justice system can be very intimidating for people who have not previously engaged with it. We could perhaps use the secondary school system to educate people about the system, including jury service, which, too, is an intimidating process. A recently deceased 99 year old - whom Deputy Hayes and I knew - was called for jury service two weeks ago despite that she died six months ago. I am not sure whose fault it is that her name had not been removed from the register. We must ensure we have in place a system which ensures pensioners, in particular of that age, are not summoned to jury service.

There must also be some understanding of modern day culture. I have been calling for many years for refresher courses for the Judiciary. Currently, once one is a judge, one is a judge for life. However, life evolves and changes. Some judges live in ivory towers far away from the reality of daily life. There is a need for change in this area. Many Members attended the recent meeting with Ms Trudi Lalor on the need to make the Coroner's Court system more sensitive. The courts system is adversarial. We know that. I thank the Minister, Deputy Hogan, who, following much pressure from this side of the House, has dropped - I hope he has - the provision which provided that people would have to go to court if a second inspection of a septic tank failed and they wanted to appeal the matter. The courts have enough to do in terms of dealing with criminals. We should not be making criminals of ordinary people who are trying to provide homes for their families.

As I stated earlier, cyber bullying is a serious issue. It is unseen and can happen at 5 a.m. While previously a student may have been subjected to bullying during school time they can now be bullied at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. while they should be asleep, which is worrying. I agree with much of what is contained in this Bill. This Bill makes an important amendment to the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 in regard to offences against vulnerable persons, which are as wrong as any terrorist act. These are acts of terror perpetrated on one person. It is important to note that only 12% of abuse - which is 12% too much - happened behind the walls of institutions or in cars with clergymen. It is important we focus on and understand that and that the public is made aware that this may also be happening in the workplace, homes, neighbours homes and so on. I compliment those who, before it became fashionable, became foster parents, taking in vulnerable, damaged and hurt children and young adults whom they cared for, nourished and listened to, giving them the confidence to move on and live meaningful lives.

As regards submissions, only three groups and one individual attended the committee hearings. There are so many victims of abuse. The people with whom we met last week in the AV room were not aware of the redress system. There are people today in America, Australia, the UK and so on who were victims of abuse here. We heard many stories in regard to abuse of children in homes and institutions. In the past, many children were sent to farms and pubs to work, where dreadful abuse was perpetrated on them. There are many areas in respect of which the State has failed. However, I do not lay blame at anyone's door. We must be more aware of what is going on around us - which brings me back again to the community alert programmes - and not only the criminal who might kick in our door and threaten to shoot us. A criminal held four people hostage for two hours today during a raid on a pharmacy in Cashel town. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and that the gardaí were able to deal with that situation, which was a frightening ordeal. However, that is what is going on everywhere.

As mentioned, there are people who will try to find a loophole in this Bill because they do not want to report. I will not go into the area of confessionals and what happens in that regard. I believe in confession and in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. I will leave the issue of the clergy not being allowed to report on what is told in the confessional to wiser counsel. However, we must be wary of that. The people who have taken those vows will have to deal with that themselves in their institutions. It is a sensitive and difficult issue as is the issue for which we are legislating in this Bill. We must ensure we remain alert to this and that we spread awareness about it.

It is wrong that the committee received only four submissions on this hugely important issue. All of our committees are failing to engage the public. Perhaps this House is failing to engage the public and that is the reason we do not have the interaction and uptake of votes. My colleague, Deputy Tom Hayes, is the Acting Chairman so I will not go into the promises of the last election. I am just saying there is a disconnect. While the committee holding the hearings - I do not know who is the Chairman - did a good job the response it got was pretty pathetic given the number of crimes committed over the years. A number of people abroad have not heard about the redress board and the various schemes. I referred in this House two weeks ago to the abuse victims organisation being hijacked by individuals, including by an individual in my county. The individual to whom I referred is a former mayor. I and the people of Clonmel in Tipperary are confused. The same person praised the institution at every turn for decades and gave the people involved civic receptions. There was then, however, a metamorphosis and he turned around and attacked the people he had defended. He also attacked the newspapers for printing what was public knowledge and in the public domain after court cases. When euro appeared, he did the exact opposite of what he had been doing. This is despicable. The people I met last week despise this more than anything else. They want money and justice and their minds back. This is a hard thing for them to say. They want to get back their minds and their living spirit, which had been so traumatised and suppressed over the years.

It behoves us all to learn serious lessons from these instances. We should notice and be aware of any offences against a person, young or old, and report them. We should be community aware and we should be involved in neighbourhood watch. Above all, however, we should be alert about human beings. If we do this, we will have a better society as result.

I thank the Acting Chairman for his forbearance. I look forward to further discussion on the Bill.

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