Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's reform of the court structure, especially the reform of the in camera rule. I have spoken about this in the Chamber previously.

I reiterate the importance of out-of-hours cover. Will the Minister consider what is being done in Austria, Germany, a pilot area in the United Kingdom and New South Wales. Emergency orders are made through a police application to the court or an authorisation officer via telephone, fax or e-mail.

Women experiencing domestic violence are often controlled, followed, harassed and stalked by their abusers during their relationships and after separation. Stalking often escalates after separation as the perpetrator may want to continue to control the victim. We need to introduce a specific offence of stalking into Irish law, as exists in Scotland and Victoria. Stalking should be recognised as grounds for a safety order. When formulating the definition of the offence, we must take into account new technologies, including text messaging, the Internet, social media, blogs, etc. Currently, harassment is dealt with under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 but it is difficult to prove there has been harassment based on the definition contained in the Act.

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