Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Amendment No. 4 arises from the debate on section 4 in this House. As Senators will recall, section 4 reforms the law relating to victim impact evidence, principally to give the family members of homicide victims the right to make a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing. The Bill, as published, retained the existing categories of offences to which the victim impact provisions applied, namely sexual offences, offences involving violence or the threat of violence and attempts and conspiracies to commit such offences. The amendment takes account of several offences under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 such as harassment and false imprisonment which may not necessarily involve physical violence but which can cause great emotional distress to victims. The amendment ensures they are included by adding the words "any offences under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997" in section 5(1)(c) of the Criminal Justice Act 1993.