Dáil debates
Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Other Questions
Criminal Law
6:05 pm
Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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50. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if new measures are being considered to tackle crimes against persons with disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24350/17]
Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to ask the Minister if new measures are being considered to tackle crimes against people with disabilities, and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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There are robust mechanisms already in place in legislation to deal with discrimination and offences against all members of our society. In general, where criminal offences such as assault, criminal damage, or public order offences are committed against any person, including a person with a disability, they are prosecuted as generic offences through the wider criminal law. Judges are required to take aggravating factors, such as targeting a victim because he or she has a disability, into account at sentencing. The discriminatory grounds in equality legislation to combat discrimination in employment and the provision of services also include disability.
As indicated, the Department is to undertake a review of the Prohibition of Incitement to Racial Religious or National Hatred Act 1989 with a view to ensuring it meets the needs of contemporary society. The case for including incitement against a person with a disability will be considered specifically as part of this wider examination. It is something that will be considered in the review of the legislation.
Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. A report published in 2014 by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties found that people with disabilities who are victims of crime experience the same problems of under-reporting, lack of information provision, lack of private areas in courtrooms and delays in progressing complaints which apply in regard to all other victims in Ireland. However, very often the centrality of their outsider status is more pronounced.
This derives from a general failure to engage with the specific needs of people with disabilities beyond those addressed by the Disability Act 2005. One of the difficulties highlighted was the adversarial nature of our legal system, which as one of the authors pointed out can also be a discriminatory barrier given its emphasis on spoken testimony, lawyer-led questioning, observation of the demeanour of a witness, the curtailment of free-flowing witness narrative, confrontation and robust cross-examination. Clearly that can be particularly difficult for those, for example, who have a difficulty with a long-term memory recall and with communicating information, with cognitive overload and with questioning that invites acquiescence and compliance. Has the Department of Justice and Equality reviewed legislation with a view to making the system more accessible for people with disabilities?
6:15 pm
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I have been discussing this very recently. The Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016 makes very specific provisions requiring gardaí to carry our special measures in their assessments of victims. The Bill represents a sea change across the criminal justice sector in our attitude to victims. Obviously, that would include people with a disability. For example, that Bill, which is currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas, provides that any communications with a victim are put in simple and accessible language and take into account the personal characteristics of the victim, including for example disability, which may affect his ability to understand or be understood.
Our law is increasingly reflecting the very critical point the Deputy is making. The law needs to be sensitive to people who have particular characteristics. The recently introduced Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 brings in further protections for people with a disability. When we review the incitement to hatred legislation, we can examine if further measures are needed.
Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister mentioned the hate crime legislation. As she knows, Deputy O'Loughlin and I introduced a Bill last autumn to deal with this. Deputy O'Loughlin has brought forward extensive and significant amendments to the Bill which we believe now has wide support in the House.
However, we feel that the Department does not seem very supportive - we may be picking that up wrong. Does the Department support the principle of hate crime legislation? Many people who work with people with disabilities want such legislation and it is vital that the Government also support it.
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As I said, we are undertaking a review of the 1989 legislation. I have already pointed to a number of pieces of legislation that are certainly strengthening the rights of victims who would be subject to hate crime. If further legislation is needed, we would certainly be open to introducing it.