Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When victims of sexual offences and rape are interviewed after the trial process has completed they state they find the whole process very harrowing and a very surprising experience. I introduced legislation last week to amend the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act to provide a complainant at the earliest stage with advice and information in respect of what the process would involve. Will the Minister look at this carefully? It is necessary that we provide greater support to complainants and victims of sexual offences at an early stage. It is simply the case, and I do not know the explanation for it, that people who are the victims of sexual offences and rape do not approach the Garda with complaints with the same enthusiasm as other individuals who are victims of other crimes. There is a reason for this. I welcome the review the Minister has indicated is ongoing. A similar review is going on under Lord Justice Gillen in Northern Ireland and I ask that we also take into account his conclusions when his report is published.

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