Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As both my colleagues said, Fianna Fáil will support the Bill, which is a welcome strengthening of the law in a number of areas. I especially welcome the new protections for children. The Bill gives effect to recommendations made by two Oireachtas committees, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Child Protection and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children. It also implements the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse and the optional protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children also welcomed the Bill, which aims to implement wide ranging reform in the area of sexual offences and offer greater protection to children from sexual exploitation.

In today's world, access to the Internet and pornography is all too easy. Very few children or teenagers have no access to a laptop, iPad or tablet. Grooming of children in chat rooms online is all too easy. Children are too vulnerable and are easy targets. However, the ISPCC expressed concern about the apparent omission of risk assessment guidelines and the provision of post-release supervision of sexual offenders. This is one of the key components to ensure children are better protected from offenders who seek to prey on them. As the ISPCC said, we need to ensure the legislation is robust and ensures improved conviction rates and appropriate risk assessment mechanisms, enhanced post-release monitoring and supervision of sexual offenders, and that sentencing reflects the depravity of the crime committed.

Last year, Fianna Fáil met with Mary Flaherty of CARI, the leading voluntary organisation with a proven track record in providing child centred specialised therapy and support to children, families and groups affected by child sexual abuse. She, too, had issues to raise on the disclosure of therapy notes of children who have experienced child sexual abuse, while she welcomed the move towards establishing a clear statutory framework for the duty of disclosure in criminal cases. She made the point that:

For therapy to be effective and child-centred, a private space is required for a child to explore sensitive issues without fear of the information being used for any other purpose. If confidentiality cannot be assured, the core undertaking of therapy is undermined at a very fundamental level. The disclosure of such records can also lead to further psychological distress and potential re-traumatisation for the child, particularly as the person who has sexually abused them can have access to their sensitive, most private information.

She went on to say:

Furthermore, the request for therapy records can put children and their parents in an invidious position should therapy records be requested for criminal trial. They are often informed that in the event of consent not being provided for the release of therapy records, the trial will most likely not proceed, due to the lack of disclosure. This often leads to a situation whereby "consent" is provided for fear of this repercussion. The matter, therefore, has public health and societal implications as it has been argued that the effect of disclosure of such records is a powerful disincentive to report sexual offences and to seek therapy and, as such, this prejudices the public interest.

I welcome the fact that the Bill prohibits the cross-examination of a person under 18 years by the accused person in a criminal trial. However, many feel that this exclusion should be extended to all victims of sexual crime, as it is in England and Wales. One in Four, a charity which provides support and resources for people who have experienced sexual abuse and violence asserts:

It is horrifying to think that a victim of sexual violence should be subjected to a verbal assault in court by the person who violated them in the first place. This must be changed.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has also been in contact with us about this and it would welcome the inclusion of the necessity for an accused person to have legal representation for the purposes of cross-examining a vulnerable witness in cases of sexual offences and domestic violence cases. When a victim realises an accused person can cross-examine him or her in person, if they do not want to have legal representation, it is one of the reasons for the high attrition rates in sexual violence crimes, and a very understandable one. The issue is addressed in the EU directive on victims’ rights and, in this Bill, for children under 18. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre would like to see it extended to include all vulnerable witnesses and Fianna Fáil agrees.

A final issue Fianna Fáil would like to raise is not covered in the legislation but is connected to the issue, namely, the need to commission another report on Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland, SAVI. The original SAVI report was published in 2002 and was the foundation on which the Ferns, Ryan, Murphy and Cloyne reports were delivered. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and others are keen to have a second SAVI research report conducted. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality also strongly recommends that a second SAVI report be commissioned. The last report was commissioned in 2002 by the Department of Health, and the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was also involved. Although the Rape Crisis Centre has lobbied the Minister for Health, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Minister for Education and Skills regarding the need for a new report, none of them sees it as their responsibility. The 2002 SAVI report told us that over the lifetime of Irish women and men, 200,000 women and 60,000 men are victims of rape.

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Surely these figures are alarming and would indicate that it is a national crisis.

In the 13 years since the SAVI report was published, national policy has been informed by the results and a number of SAVI's recommendations have been implemented. For example, there are now six sexual assault treatment units in the country, two more than pre-SAVI. There has also been a significant increase in the number of victims availing of the rape crisis centres around the country, which are underfunded, something else of which we should be conscious. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, DRCC, manages a 24-hour national helpline and in 2014 it dealt with 12,000 calls. In the weeks after the launch of various high-profile reports, such as Ferns, Cloyne, and Murphy, the number of calls to rape crisis centres increased significantly. This is an important issue. Until the detailed research for a second SAVI is done, we will not know if these increases are due to a rise in the prevalence of the crime or to the victims coming forward feeling that their concerns will be listened to and their stories taken into account and acted upon. Until such time as we have that detailed research, we are in the dark concerning what is happening in broader Irish society. It is an alarming statistic that, during their lifetimes, 200,000 women and 60,000 men are raped. Behind these statistics are harrowing stories. We have all heard them.

We need a second SAVI that can properly inform policy development. As the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality pointed out, a new SAVI research report could review the implementation of the recommendations contained in the original report because, while some have been acted on, many may not have been. We are discussing a cost of approximately €1 million. With the prevalence of violence against women and men in the form of rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse, we cannot pretend that it is not an issue. Having a report commissioned and published would at least put us on a platform towards further policy development and implementing the recommendations of a new report.

I welcome the Bill and the protections that it will bring, in particular for children and women, and Fianna Fáil supports the proposed criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services.

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