Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill which seeks to give effect to European Parliament and European Council directives aimed at combating the sexual abuse and exploitation of children and child pornography. Its wide-ranging provisions include new criminal offences to protect children against grooming. I believe that is important given online use and the use of smart phones as well as the total change in access. As a parent, I have to fight with my children to get them offline and off the Internet. It is obvious that this is a dangerous area. We cannot be certain about what information they are receiving and what is coming into their devices.

There are new measures to protect children from online predators. I cannot overemphasise the numbers of parents I meet and others who contact me on a daily basis who are concerned. It is a major issue. It affects children right from the age they access these devices. Unfortunately, they are accessing them at younger and younger ages. We need to be aware. As a parent, I cannot be sufficiently aware of the kind of material they access or the people and predators who are ready to prey and intrude. Some change their identities, age and photographs on Snapchat to deceive younger people.

New and strengthened offences to tackle child pornography are vital. Harassment orders to protect victims of convicted sex offenders are vital too. This is because offenders can serve their time and their sentence and then return. We know some of these smart phones and other devices are available to offenders from the confinement of prison cells. They can go through the walls. The Internet is a dangerous and powerful tool.

New provisions are to be introduced regarding evidence by victims, particularly children. I welcome this because it is so difficult for minors and children to give evidence, even with the supports of social workers, siblings and parents. However, we need to strengthen the protections further.

I salute the work done in this area by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, especially his attempts to highlight the protections that need to be put in place around child grooming. I heard Deputy Naughten many times during the last Dáil raising this issue with successive Ministers. His passion and zeal to get this area tightened up must be commended. The Minister, Deputy Naughten, has declared, however, that he is deeply disappointed that under this Bill additional powers have not been given to the Garda for post-release supervision and monitoring of sex offenders. Indeed that can be applied to victims of all crime. There may be victims' rights Bills and guidelines but we know that in many cases, unfortunately, the victim may be the last person to know what is happening to the person who perpetrated the crime. This can apply even if they have gone through due process and served a sentence, whether a jail sentence or community service or whatever. They are not kept up to speed with where it is at, where the perpetrator is and whether he has been released.

Neither does it include electronic tagging which is a big issue in many areas of crime. The Tánaiste is soon to meet the Save our Communities group from Tipperary. It has a big issue about tagging ordinary criminals. We are going to have to consider it. The monitoring by the Garda and other authorities would be made a thousand times easier if there was tagging because it is electronic and not intrusive. It is a slight little monitor and it is available. I was brought recently to see the attempt to monitor the spread of bovine tuberculosis, TB, in Scotland. They were blaming the badgers and they put tags on them to monitor them.

It is amazing how simple it would be to see and monitor people's movements without depending on meeting or seeing or physically following them. I thank the Garda superintendent who brought it to my attention. It is vital that we consider that because it would be so easy and transparent. I know people have fundamental issues about rights and so on. The protection of our children, of minors and our communities from sexual predators cannot be understated and the victims’ rights cannot be understated. The perpetrators up on charges often get free legal aid and can offend and reoffend when they are out on bail. We must bury any inhibitions about this and go for it. I am sure when the group from Tipperary meets the Tánaiste on 23 November it will make that case quite strongly too.

I am disappointed that this Bill does not mention electronic tagging for monitoring sex offenders. It is vital. It would save an enormous amount of Garda time. It is instant. I am not comparing children with animals but it amazed me that they could track a wide area of a parish or community by night to see where those animals were going. The technology is proven and should be used.

The Bill does not go far enough in disclosure of information under certain circumstances relating to an offender on the sexual offences register. That should be tightened up greatly. Thanks to the gardaí in my community, we found out that an offender from a different jurisdiction had arrived in our country only last weekend. He was under obligation to notify the authorities if he left that jurisdiction but he did not. He was picked up in my area by very active and engaged gardaí. I am delighted that happened because people can be scared. This person had gone to great lengths to evade detection. He had gone to the Netherlands from the other jurisdiction he had been in and had come back to Ireland. He was discovered by the movement of a car associated with him through the port and he was found living in a very remote area about two miles from my village. People did not know he was there but they were relieved to know that he is back in prison awaiting trial today for being in this jurisdiction.

I support the local garda, Niall O’Halloran, and the other detectives who were swift. This happened in the dead of night and it was a great service to the community. Electronic tagging would make that so much easier. We are always looking for extra resources for An Garda Síochána and that would cut down drastically on the need for extra resources. We have to consider it seriously. A working group should be set up in the Department of Justice and Equality to examine that.

Sections 7 and 8 introduce additional specific offences in respect of the grooming of children. I welcome that. While grooming is not defined in the Bill, it is generally understood to mean making contact with a child with the aim of sexually exploiting him or her. This is done through the Internet and modern devices that young children have. We all know they get them as presents for their first communion and earlier. It is very scary because it is a groomer’s paradise. They can use all the modern jargon and can have conversations, as we have seen, and we know to our cost the impact that has on young people’s lives. I plead with the Tánaiste and her colleagues here today to examine this area because it is fraught with danger and many teachers, guardians and parents are not abreast of and up to speed with this kind of technology. They need supports and they need to be reassured that when we enact legislation, we are ever cognisant of the dangers.

I also acknowledge the work done by different organisations such as Ruhama which has worked tirelessly for several years to see some of the provisions in this Bill introduced. I compliment those organisations on their work. They have experience, have done a lot of research and have a lot of know-how. We must listen to them. In that vein, I note that Ruhama also has concerns about this Bill. I am sure the Tánaiste is well aware of them and has met and listened to Ruhama. It holds the view that while the Bill is an important step forward in combatting sexual exploitation within the sex trade, concerns remain that the spirit and intention of the law cannot be fulfilled without also removing the offence of soliciting. That should be obvious to anybody without a legal mind who reads this. We have to consider the spirit of the Bill as well as the printed version. It is Ruhama’s view that this continues to subject highly vulnerable and exploited women and men, based in street prostitution, to criminalisation.

I listened to Deputy Wallace quoting what happened in another jurisdiction. It is not much good introducing legislation if it is not going to be policed or seen in the hierarchy of crime. We need to have a holistic view of this and see if we can change attitudes and people’s minds about this. We have often introduced legislation here, with no disrespect to people who have tabled Private Member’s Bills, myself included, without having done an impact assessment. That is very difficult for the drafters or the departmental officials. It is fine to introduce and pass legislation but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and there can be defects or unintended consequences. We need periodic checks on the working of legislation to see how it is bedding in and impacting on society in general and on the people it is intended to bring to justice. Legislation needs to be aimed at the right place and its impact needs to be accurate, justified and beneficial to society.

It is important that our society is better and safer as a result of the introduction of any legislation. In this instance, the legislation is important.

While I welcome many aspects of the Bill, I have concerns that it may have a number of shortcomings. There should be a mechanism whereby we could review all legislation introduced. I have seen legislation brought in on which there was an outcry for years in terms of trying to get any aspect of it amended. It is as if the people who drafted it were infallible. None of us are infallible. None of us know everything about the law and its impact, therefore, we need to take a holistic approach.

The main provisions of the Bill are long overdue. We live in a highly technological society and this has produced a new set of challenges with respect to protecting children and vulnerable adults from sexual exploitation. That is probably the understatement of the year. I know - from the Minister's party, its members and her dealings with the different groups - that it behoves us all to try to grapple with the legislation but the area it covers is huge. The level of exploitation is increasing every day as a result of the misuse of modern technology or its use for purposes for which it was never intended. It is one thing having the legislation in place but it is another to provide An Garda Síochána with the powers and the resources to police it. As Deputy Wallace stated in the context of a jurisdiction not far from here, the police can be just too busy and may be unable - on foot of the hierarchy of crimes that exists - to deal with certain matters as a result of being obliged to respond to major road traffic accidents, bank robberies or whatever. If, this statute is put in place, it must be treated seriously. In that context, An Garda Síochána must be given the requisite resources and tools and its specialist units must be properly staffed in order that they might monitor and combat the trafficking conducted online and behind closed doors in the comfort of people's homes. The latter can, of course, intrude on families, and young people in particular.

While the Bill does not go far enough, I welcome it and look forward to debating it further. I also look forward to the Minister accepting some of the recommendations and suggestions made to her.

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