Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The 14.1% increase in sexual offences is truly concerning. I am not pre-empting the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill, which will come before the Dáil this week and which Fianna Fáil will support, but will the Bill finish its passage through the Oireachtas prior to the Dáil being dissolved, which we expect to happen next week? We should work collectively to try to achieve this. We are concerned about the removal of some provisions contained in the Bill to protect victims. These are on the supervision and monitoring of sex offenders after their release from prison. Why were these provisions removed from the Bill? Does the Minister accept there are major gaps in the protection of victims of sexual assault because there is an absence of a definition of consent in the Bill? Other jurisdictions, such as Canada and the UK, have a definition of consent. Will the Minister comment on this?

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