Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

-----giving us the same story, not to pay this one, not to pay that one. The reality is he has never given a common sense way of raising that money and that is a fact. It is time to do things and I agree with the Deputy these are all needed but let us come up with an honest and constructive way of doing this. It is as simple as that and I will wait for it.

As the Minister and many others have stated, the purpose of the Criminal Justice Bill 2012 is to close an existing loophole in the law. Under the current legislation it is an offence to withhold information in respect of a serious criminal offence. However, this excludes sexual offences. For that reason the Government has brought forward this Bill to ensure that all serious offences, including those of a sexual nature, must be reported to the Garda. I hope and expect that this will make some difference in the protection of children and vulnerable adults in particular.

We can all agree that the stories and revelations contained in the Ryan, Murphy, and Cloyne reports were shocking to say the least. It is sad that reports like those were needed to shock this House into action, and some of the responsibility for the abuse suffered must fall on the State, but lessons have been learned and the introduction of this Bill is proof of that. What is clear from the statements made by victims is that if those who had knowledge of sexual offences committed against children in the past had informed gardaí, many subsequent crimes could have been prevented. There is no stronger argument for this Bill than that.

Many of those reports refer to clerical and institutional abuse but the fact remains that most abuse occurs within families. This was something we in the justice committee raised at the time and I know the Minister has also acknowledged that fact. We cannot ignore the fact that many families will still refuse to disclose abuse in an effort to protect themselves and although this Bill will make that an offence, there is still a great deal of work to be done to reduce and eliminate abuse taking place in the home. Anybody who withholds information on the abuse of children or vulnerable adults should and will be punished severely under this Bill. Where information is not disclosed, without reasonable cause, offenders can face penalties of up to ten years imprisonment. Given the lifetime of damage that can be done to a victim, I welcome the type of penalties included in this Bill for those who fail to protect them from further or repeated abuse.

I also want to address a related issue, which has come up regularly in my constituency of Tipperary South, that of religious privilege and the nature of confidentiality between a priest and his congregation. This Bill will not change the use of that privilege. As it stands, religious privilege has been relied on in cases dealing with civil matters. However, dealing with criminal cases is a different matter and it is up to the courts to decide when this privilege can or cannot be used.

It is important to note that this Bill does not deal entirely with the issue of sexual abuse in the State. The children first Bill, although separate, will address the issues in the HSE concerning the protection of children and vulnerable adults. The Garda can only do so much in this area. While they may be able to investigate a criminal offence against a child or adult, it is the role of the HSE to provide the necessary supports and monitoring of children at risk. I hope to see the children first Bill before the House as soon as possible. It is badly needed if we are to properly address the problems in our health service. It will require that the relevant persons in a position to assess children at risk must provide the HSE with the necessary information to monitor the children in question. It will also require the HSE to provide the right supports to a child who may have been abused. This was a real problem in the past and I hope it will be addressed in that Bill once and for all. It is important that the HSE would only be allowed to operate in conjunction with the Garda on any case with which they may be dealing and I would like some allowances to be made for that in the upcoming Bill.

I want to reassure my constituents that this Bill applies to everyone in the State, and it does not target a particular group or organisation. It is a logical step in the effort to further protect our children from sexual abuse, an issue on which we can all agree. I want to mention the people who have been at the heart of this campaign to protect our young and vulnerable people. In particular, I want to thank the victims and survivors of abuse who have spoken out and made their voices heard on this matter. I know personally that some people in south Tipperary have spoken out about their own experiences and I say well done to them for that. They may have been let down in the past but I want them to know that they have made a real difference to the safety and security of our children in the future.

I commend the Minister on bringing this Bill before the Cabinet and the House.

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