Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the Chamber as this is my first opportunity to do so. I wish her well. As my colleagues have stated, we support this Bill. Some of the changes in the Bill are welcome and some are not before their time.

For example, sex offenders will have to notify gardaí within three days rather than the current seven days if they have a change of address. This would enable gardaí to track where the sex offender is. However, the sex offender should be required to notify gardaí immediately on or even prior to a change of address. What if the sex offender's new home was beside a school or playschool? This needs to be taken into account. The provision of notice after a person moves could lead to a reactive approach rather than proactive approach. It would help if notice was given before the move.

As I have said, to manage the movements of sex offenders properly we also need to increase spending on Garda ICT to support the roll-out of the amendments fully. Garda ICT services have received little funding since they were first introduced in the late 1990s. While some funding was announced in budget 2022, we are unsure how exactly and where it will be spent. While the introduction by the Government of new powers to tackle sex offenders is welcome, the Garda must be properly resourced to enforce them. While bans on working with children or vulnerable people have been made in the courts in the past, the Bill will now provide explicit powers for that. As Deputy Martin Kenny said earlier, putting these explicit powers in place is long overdue. As a society, we should never be in a position where a person convicted of a sexual offence against a child is permitted to work with children or vulnerable people, or volunteer in a place where children are.

The Bill makes provision for the electronic monitoring of sex offenders to assist in ensuring offenders comply with a sex offender order or a post-release supervision order. Electronic monitoring will only work if sufficient resources are available to ensure the monitoring really happens. If there is a breach, for instance, someone goes into a banned space, resources must be available to follow up and investigate that matter. Collating changes in addresses of sex offenders will only work if the Garda have the proper ICT equipment in place.

We also need to put in place measures that ensure survivors of sexual crimes are better supported before, during and after their trial. This should include measures regarding anonymity, court representation and other general support services, which for the most part are offered by the rape crisis centres throughout the country that do tremendous work despite surviving on very thin budgets. Justice delayed is often justice denied. Challenges are caused by court adjournments, when survivors prepare themselves for trial on a certain date and find out that it is postponed to a later date, which may be several months away. This has significant consequences for survivors who prepare themselves emotionally for the trial process as well as make the practical arrangements for time off work, childcare, or travel and accommodation when the trial is due to take place outside their locality.

The media also has a part to play on how it reports instances of rape. There seems to be a culture of survivor blaming. I use the word "victim" as this is often used when the media portray these crimes. Reports state that the victim was drunk, the victim was alone, or the victim left with the perpetrator willingly. I can go on. Let me be clear on one point: there is only one cause of rape and that is the rapist. Rape is not caused by decisions victims make. Rape is caused by an individual who decides to perpetrate a sexual crime on another person. The cause of rape is the perpetrator of that crime. The cause of rape is the rapist.

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