Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. It is good and bad news. At least there is some clarity. However, it is six years since the legislation became operational. It is three years and three months since the Minister was legally obliged to carry out a review. I really do not know what happened. I understand that the person died and there were difficulties. What I do not understand is the person that we are talking about was confirmed as the study lead for the familicide and domestic homicide review in June 2020, after the woman died. She was a very respected woman and I do not even want to mention names here. However, the Minister then appointed the same person to review Part 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 after that. It just does not make sense to me. I might be wrong in my reading of it. I took a lot of time with this legislation. I actually voted against it, with just two other colleagues in the Dáil, after considering it because I felt it was endangering women. The review is extremely important in looking at convictions and prosecutions we need that to see if the legislation is effective.

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