James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will take on the baton. I am pleased to see this Bill progress. The Joint Committee on Justice produced a considered report after the heads of the Bill were referred to us. I am glad that a number of its provisions have made their way into the Bill. My colleague, Deputy O’Callaghan, spoke about the consent provisions. Then there is the implementation of the O'Malley report on protections for vulnerable witnesses in sex offence cases, including separate representation at times. It is reassertion. There are already rules of evidence on what can and cannot be asked about the complainant’s background and circumstances in sex offence trials. The committee reiterated the need for those rules to be enshrined and protected, including separate legal representation where appropriate.

The committee also considered the question of anonymity for complainants and that they not be exposed to media, particularly in trials of this nature. We recommended that we go beyond the traditional definitions of broadcast media to encompass social media and other new media. Somebody has already gone through an ordeal prior to getting to court. The court process, while adversarial and allowing the accused party a right to a defence, should not in any way amplify or double down on the wrongs already perpetrated on the complainant. There should be provision made to support that person through the process rather than trigger them again and have them revisit their ordeals.

The human trafficking element is also extremely important. We made detailed and technical recommendations around that, not least as to what referral agencies would be involved and how that would work, as well as the right to an appeal, the right to representation at an appeal and a number of definitions which we felt should be interpreted to the benefit of the person in the spotlight, and putting the trafficked person front and centre. I attended a number of Interpol conferences earlier in the year as a member of the Joint Committee on Justice. Sometimes we think of human trafficking as something that happens in other countries but it happens in Dublin and many other locations in Ireland. I think we would be surprised and shocked were we to look at the detail of some of the things I have been unfortunate enough to learn about through talking to colleagues here and in other jurisdictions.

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