Results 3,861-3,880 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I will take the views of the committee fully into account. If I can design the review in a more useful way so that it can examine precisely the impact of the legislation, I will do that. I will accept the two-year timeframe that has been recommended. In Northern Ireland, legislation is reviewed after three years. Dáil Standing Orders provide that the impact of legislation has to be...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I understand where Deputy Coppinger is coming from in respect of the range of needs. However, I suggest that the extensive reporting provisions are not suitable to be put into legislation in this manner. For example, amendment No. 22 would require the Minister to report on a remarkably wide range of areas, including education, language training, financial, housing, health care, social...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is a question of the way the amendments are drafted.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I wish to make a point in terms of the way the amendment is drafted. Let us examine it more closely. In the drafting of the amendment the Deputy is referring to the needs of migrants. That is extraordinarily broad and this is not the legislation on which it should impact. I have given the example of women who are trafficked and outlined the particular approach that needs...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I do not believe the debate is one-sided. I agree absolutely that we must look at the broader issues. There is no doubt about this. However, the issue is what can we realistically include in legislation as opposed to what is part of broader social policy issues that need to be addressed. I do not accept Deputy Clare Daly's characterisation of the Government as being uninterested in social...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I could not agree more with the Deputy on her points about general attitudes and what sustains the industry. She is right and it is good to hear it being said, given that it is the reality. There will be specific sections in new legislation to protect victims of trafficking when giving evidence. The Department of Justice and Equality has provided a guide to procedures for victims of human...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I will.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is an interesting issue and I will examine it. This gender anomaly was upheld as recently as 2012 when the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to section 5 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 which provided that only a female child under the age of 17 years was not guilty of an offence. The Chief Justice noted previous case law which held that the Oireachtas was entitled, on...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: May I make a further point?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: If the section is voted against, the original definition in the 1908 Act will remain on the Statute Book without amendment. The Deputies may want to consider that.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am amending it under section 28 of the Bill. If the section is voted against, the original definition will remain.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: The male offence would still be life. That is my point. We were equating the offences.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I do not believe that we have set a date yet.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: Did it? I did not hear that, but that is fine.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: We will have the amendments ready for next week if that is correct.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: The comments.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: We had noticed the point raised by the Deputy about the amendment's formulation. In terms of the issues he is raising, he might consider the new section 19A(9) inserted by section 38, which refers to the public interest as a factor to be considered in determining the disclosure. However, I am happy to discuss the matter with him. Perhaps he will liaise with the officials so that we might...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 27: In page 23, line 1, to delete “14 years” and substitute “18 years”. Amendments Nos. 27 and 28 are alternatives to amendments Nos. 26 and 29, which were proposed by Deputies Shortall and Catherine Murphy, and make the necessary provision. The first amendment extends the presumptive prohibition on a personal cross-examination by an...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 28: In page 23, to delete lines 6 to 11 and substitute the following: “(2) Where-- (a) a person is accused of a sexual offence, and (b) a person who has attained the age of 18 years (being a person in respect of whom a sexual offence is alleged to have been committed) is to give evidence, the court may direct that the accused may...