Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Everyone in this House agrees that sexual and gender-based violence is an epidemic. No part of society or sector is immune. We all know that tackling it and eradicating it is not easy. Sometimes, however, it seems like the State is not even trying. Let us take, for instance, what is happening in the Defence Forces. We know that 68 members of the Defence Forces either have been convicted of crimes or are before the courts charged with criminal offences. It is bizarre that we need to appoint a senior counsel to tell us that Defence Forces personnel who are convicted of serious crimes like sexual offences should not be serving, but that is apparently what the Government proposes to do. That is not an approach that screams zero tolerance. The reality is that we do not see much in the way of zero tolerance outside of it just being a slogan. It is hard to find evidence of a zero-tolerance approach anywhere.

We learned this week that a Dublin taxi driver, Raymond Shorten, convicted of raping two young women had previous convictions for sexual offences. One of his victims said she thought she would be safe when she hailed a taxi. That is what we are told is the safe option. The reality was that she had got into a vehicle being driven by a serial predator. Why did he have a taxi licence? Why did the regulator not act? How many other taxi drivers have similar convictions? Do we even know? At least the regulator, the National Transport Authority, NTA, actually has powers to disqualify taxi drivers convicted of serious crimes. The question is: is the NTA using them or do those powers need to be enhanced?

This is not the case in other professions. The Dental Council of Ireland has been begging successive Governments for years to give it powers to take action against rogue dentists, but nothing has been done. We know that at least one dentist convicted of sexual assault was able to practise in Ireland because the regulator had no power to stop them. Those powers still do not exist and those powers can only be given to the Dental Council by the Government.

Counselling services are also a wild west when it comes to regulation. The reality is that there is none. Vulnerable sexual abuse victims will often seek counselling support. They are exposed to unnecessary additional risk because of the complete absence of regulation.

The Tánaiste said last week that any member of the Defence Forces charged with sexual assault or rape would be put on immediate leave. Did that happen? How many Defence Forces members were suspended? Does he also believe that taxi drivers, dentists, counsellors and members of other professions who have close contact with members of the public should be similarly suspended when facing serious sexual offences and, if so, is he going to do anything about it? Has anyone in government written to the NTA about the Raymond Shorten case? Does he know why that predator had a taxi licence? When will the Government do more than talk about zero tolerance and give professional bodies, such as the Defence Forces, the Dental Council and others, the power they actually need to make zero tolerance a reality?

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