Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to get the chance to speak on this matter. We fully support this Bill and hope it will pass speedily. We have been discussing this issue for quite a long time. It is totally unacceptable that the families of children who were the victims of a homicide cannot name them. I expected to have the chance to speak on this issue last week and I spoke with a family I know about it. A number of families in the Carlow-Kilkenny region are affected by this. One man described it as frustrating and retraumatising. They felt they were being silenced or gagged and that the right of the families to free speech was somehow less important than the rights of the perpetrator. It is important that we take that on board.

In general, our justice system needs to improve for the families of victims. The situations are horrific. It is very difficult for families and then they are faced with a system that is often very cold and harsh, where they do not know the rules. People genuinely feel that the rights of the perpetrator somehow trump their own as the family of the victim. That is unacceptable and we need to work to change that. Everybody in this Chamber, regardless of their political party, wants to see that changed. It is great that we are taking this issue on board and doing something constructive about it.

We have had this debate before. While it is important that everyone gets the opportunity to have their voices heard, the families are waiting for this to be passed and we should be doing everything in our power to pass it in a speedy and timely fashion. We then need to look at wider consultation with the families of victims about how they have been treated, or how they have felt they have been treated, to learn from that and see what we can do to improve that situation. It is a horrific situation for anyone to be in but having more of a helping hand or a system that is a bit more sympathetic towards the families would make it much better. Hopefully the Minister of State will take that on board. Many of us could put him in contact with a number of groups to consult with on this issue in order to improve that system for everybody.

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