Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I wish to speak generally in support of Senator Regan's amendments. These are very useful and very welcome. They are in keeping with the needs of victims. It is clear from any research done that what victims and those who complain that they were victims of crime require is to be kept informed of the progress of an investigation, of any developments in the investigation and pre-trial process and of anything that occurs following the trial. In the Irish criminal justice system we have been very much wanting compared with the system in continental European countries where victims are entitled to much greater rights within the criminal justice process. According to research I carried out in 1998 with colleagues at Trinity College into victims of rape, which was published by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, rape complainants' experience of the pre-trial and trial process was greatly improved if they had good communications with the garda involved in investigating the case, and they found they could understand the procedure much better, which greatly enhanced their overall satisfaction with the process.

Tribute must be paid to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which, in recent years, has tried to do much more to keep victims informed where serious crimes have occurred, in particular, the families of victims of homicide. The office now has a specific liaison person assigned to each family where there is a charge of murder or manslaughter. I also pay tribute to the work of Advic, the organisation that supports families of victims of homicide, which has done a great deal of work with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It must also be said that in most cases that are not at such a serious level, individual investigating gardaí perform an important function in keeping victims and complainants informed of the progress of an investigation in an informal way. Much of what Senator Regan has outlined, particularly in his proposed amendment No. 5, is already the case, and many gardaí are already doing a great deal of such work. It is important, however, as Senator Regan pointed out, to formalise this to support victims' rights.

Senator Regan is dealing with data release in a separate amendment — No. 18, I believe — but there is clearly a lack of knowledge currently. There are a couple of points on which the amendments could be improved. For example, with regard to informing a victim of his or her right to choose legal aid and assistance where a complaint is made of a serious sexual crime, this is contained in the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995. Indeed, victims have a right to separate legal representation under the Sex Offenders Act 2001 where the defence makes an application to produce evidence of prior sexual history. That amendment was introduced as a direct result of our study into the experience of rape victims. I have tabled another amendment to this Bill, No. 17, which provides for enhanced potential right of representation for victims of crime.

It is important to point out that there are already many voluntary groups working in this area. Not only are gardaí doing a great deal of work in informing and communicating with victims of crime, albeit on a relatively informal basis, but there is a large number of voluntary victim support groups around the country which provide court accompaniment services to victims. Senator Norris has spoken about the proviso "insofar as resources are available" in Senator Regan's amendments. In the current climate, that goes without saying. However, the Minister does have a commitment to continue financial support for those voluntary groups through the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime, and the court accompaniment provision is regarded as important.

I recently conducted research for the commission, with colleagues in Trinity College, which considered the experiences of local victim support groups and one issue raised, which is relevant to Senator Regan's amendment No. 4, is that the groups would prefer to make contact themselves with persons who make complaints to the Garda, but that this had given rise to data protection difficulties. While gardaí are now giving information to victims about locally accessible voluntary agencies, to use Senator Regan's words, it is not currently possible for a voluntary agency to contact a victim because the garda cannot provide the victim's name and address. It occurs to me — Senator Regan may have dealt with this — that it would be possible to provide a form in a Garda station that victims could sign giving permission to the Garda to give their names and addresses to the support groups directly.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions provides a great deal of information through leaflets, which are offered in Garda stations to people who make complaints about crimes — the first stage of interaction with the criminal justice process. We must commend that. However, it is also important that we put all these positive developments for victims in the form of a statutory requirement that victims be informed about the progress of court proceedings and that they be kept informed throughout the pre-trial, trial and post-trial periods.

There is one thing on which I disagree with Senator Regan. I note he does not confine the references in his amendments to criminal offences, but extends them to anti-social behaviour. Given the lack of operative effectiveness of anti-social behaviour orders and the fact that this is an area of law that is not quite criminal — these are civil orders, the breach of which may give rise to criminal proceedings — I am not sure it is appropriate to include the references to anti-social behaviour that crop up throughout the Senator's amendments. Otherwise, these are important amendments, which are in keeping with the spirit of the Bill and of the Minister's stated desire to improve the situation for victims of crime.