David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That the Committee do not agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 30 to the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016.

The Government opposed this amendment in the Seanad. It requires a number of bodies, statutory and non-statutory, to report on training provided in accordance with the Bill and the EU directives. We agree that training is fundamental in delivering on the rights provided for in the Bill. However, I would consider the provision of training to be an operational matter rather than a legislative one. At present, training has been provided to all State solicitors, the staff of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, both administrative and legal staff, An Garda Síochána and prosecutors nationwide. The Irish Prison Service and the Courts Service have also undergone training to enable greater support for victims of crime. Training has been given to a number of non-governmental organisations involved in assisting victims of crime, for example the victims of crime helpline, the Rape Crisis Centre, and Advic. These organisations are to receive further training from the Office of the DPP following the finalisation of this Bill. Furthermore, An Garda Síochána has specially trained personnel working in its victims service office in each division, and 474 trained family liaison officers working to support victims of crime.

Our opposition to the amendment in the Seanad was to the effect that we were concerned about the wording of the amendment. The amendment requires certain non-statutory bodies to report on training in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the EU directive. However, there are no such provisions in this Act and the provisions of the EU directive do not require such bodies to provide this training, so there is some discrepancy in the provision. There is also some question as to how appropriate it is to be legislating in this way for some of the bodies included, for example, the Bar Council, the Law Society and so on.

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