Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

Most Deputies will agree that this legislation is well overdue. Many people both here and abroad would be surprised that we do not have mandatory reporting of sexual abuse, particularly in the case of children, the elderly and people classified as vulnerable. I am pleased to note that the Bill defines a vulnerable person as a person suffering from mental illness or dementia. In 1998 the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act was passed to deal with criminal offences and now, 14 years later, we are dealing with another aspect to it which should have been dealt with a long time ago. This is welcome legislation. It clearly defines who should report offences and what the defences are. The defence of ignorance can no longer be used as an excuse not to report these cases. I particularly welcome that the legislation also covers young females who are subject to female genital mutilation. That is an important element of the Bill.

While I welcome the legislation, it cannot be given the seal of approval until the points made by my colleague about resources are dealt with. This will be key to implementing the legislation. The HSE is creaking and social services are under huge pressure. The case load they are dealing with is horrendous, as I know from dealing with cases in my constituency where people have gone to social services about their own children. There are also the issues of child and family services, the Garda, counselling and protection of those reporting. I am aware of a recent situation where a person who reported child sexual abuse had to move away from the area. They did not get the protection they sought and went through a great deal of distress as a result. The back-up counselling and support that is required must be put in place for this legislation.

There is also the question of victim support. When the State takes over a case, even a murder case, the families are very much left out of the loop. They are not talked to and not engaged with by the barrister representing their case. That must be examined as well. Perhaps the Minister will clarify whether this is part of the Bill. It is important that these supports are put in place. There is no point in passing good legislation without providing the back-up for it, and our experience to date is that it is not available. Will all the services be resourced and not be required, as has been mentioned time and again, to do more for less? In this instance, one cannot do more for less. We are talking about the lives of human beings and people putting themselves forward for the first time in the history of the State under mandatory reporting.

The confidence of the public in our services has been completely undermined. The recent report on Tallaght hospital put forward 76 recommendations on standards. The Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, national standards for safer and better health care put forward 45 standards that must be improved. We have also just heard about Tipperary general hospital. Our mental health services lack resources. People cannot access support over weekends as it is a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. support resource. That cannot happen in this situation.

All these points must be taken on board in a holistic approach to this issue. Is the Minister putting resources in place to deal with the surge in reporting that will happen when this legislation is passed? There will be a surge, as was seen in other countries where mandatory reporting was put in place. I heard somebody say that in New South Wales there was a 600% increase in reporting. Have we the resources to deal with that? Are there resources and services for victims? These should be legally in place to provide vital support for people who have been sexually abused. The legislation is important but it must be linked with the resources required to implement it. We must see the new agency being established and working with the various agencies to ensure there is a check every quarter to assess how the services are progressing, that it is being supported and that it operates a 24 hour per day, seven day per week service for 52 weeks of the year. This is what is needed. Perhaps the Minister will address some of those points.

This morning, I attended a briefing in Buswells Hotel where Amnesty International made some good points about rights. Fr. Peter McVerry said that governments do not usually like to introduce rights-based legislation because it means they must resource it. Perhaps this Government can prove different and provide the resources that are necessary for this legislation. One of the Minister's colleagues made the point at the meeting that while it is good to have rights and that he tremendously supported them, he wondered whether we have the resources to provide these rights given the situation we are in. It is a fundamental human right for a person to have access to care and protection, and the person who committed the crime must be brought to account for the criminality. I will support the Bill but I hope to hear the Minister discuss those points further before I will be happy to ratify it.

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