We must remember that Ireland's criminal law follows the tradition established and exported from England. This involves the notion that a crime disturbs the peace of the king or queen and is a wrong against the public. We have inherited the idea that the criminal law exists to punish public wrong-doing – meaning, in one sense, that the victim has no say. It has always been established in law, for example, that the victim of an assault has no right to veto a prosecution. The assault in itself is considered to be a wrong against the public in general, as well as against the victim. This assumption led to certain practices in courts, or in relation to how we charge offenders and how we administer the system of criminal justice. The system often seems remote to victims, who may believe they are isolated from the criminal justice system. I know the Oireachtas has intervened, in many modern enactments, to try to redress this balance. This debate will have been useful if it focuses our minds on the codification measure. We have to recalibrate the entire system in terms of the interests of the victim.