Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to present to the House this very important legislation. I commence by highlighting the purpose of the legislation, the primary aim of which is to close an existing loophole in the law. Under the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998, it is an offence to withhold information in respect of a serious criminal offence. However, that provision of the 1998 Act specifically excludes sexual offences. I am therefore bringing forward this Bill to ensure there is an obligation on persons who have knowledge of all serious offences, including sexual offences against children or vulnerable adults, to inform the Garda Síochána.

The Members in this House would be well aware of the content of published reports, such as the Ryan, Murphy and, more recently, Cloyne reports. These provide a litany of quite shocking revelations concerning the sexual abuse of children and failure to respond to that abuse. Members will also be aware of the further revelations over the past ten days concerning Fr. Brendan Smyth. It is clear from these revelations and the various published reports that if those who had knowledge in the past of sexual offences committed against children had informed the Garda, many children who subsequently became the victims of abuse may have been protected from clerical sexual predators. There is a compelling argument, therefore, for closing the current loophole in the law.

As Members are also aware, the full scale of the abuse of children which has taken place in the past is still not fully known and new information is continuing to emerge. The problem is not confined to offences against children, with a number of equally serious cases of vulnerable adults in institutional care being subject to serious sexual and physical abuse. In drafting the Bill I must be very mindful of the fact that the balance of evidence suggests the majority of abuse of children or vulnerable adults takes place in a person's own home. It is therefore important to reaffirm that we are not just concerned about issues of sexual abuse by persons in authority, be they in the Catholic Church or any other religious group or institutional settings. It is important to state the Bill will apply to all persons, organisations and sectors of society.

It is very important we produce legislation that affords protection from abuse to children or vulnerable persons in any scenario or location. That is what the Bill is about. Members of this House have been very supportive of this Bill when contributing to the consideration of the draft scheme of the legislation at the hearings by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. The Bill before us today has been drafted to include provisions to take account of the issues raised by the joint committee during the course of these hearings.

Under the provisions of this Bill it will be an offence to fail to disclose to the Garda Síochána, without reasonable excuse, information concerning certain serious criminal offences where such offences are committed against a child or vulnerable adult. These serious offences are listed in the Schedules to the Bill and all carry a penalty of imprisonment lasting five years or more. They include most sexual offences and offences such as assault causing harm or serious harm, cruelty to a child, abduction of a child, manslaughter and murder. The Bill also establishes some limited defences for persons charged under the Bill for persons such as a parent, guardian or medical professional acting in the interests of the health and well-being of the child or vulnerable person.

I will outline to the House the key provisions contained in the Bill. Section 1 is a standard interpretation section defining the terms used in the Bill. Section 2 creates the offence of withholding information on serious offences against children. I draw the attention of the House to a number of key provisions in this section. It is only an offence to withhold information where the person knows or believes an offence has been committed and the person has information which he or she knows or believes might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of the offender. This means a person is not under any obligation to inform the Garda of any vague rumours, innuendo or suspicions, and a person would only commit an offence if he or she has substantive information regarding an offence and fails, without reasonable excuse, to disclose that information to gardaí. This reflects similar offences contained in other Acts, such as the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and the Criminal Justice Act 2011 dealing with white collar crime.

Section 2(2) provides that the legislation will only apply to information that a person receives or becomes aware of after the Bill becomes law. Following consultation with the Attorney General, it was decided it would not be feasible to make it an offence to withhold information where the information had been received before the Bill was enacted. There are potential legal concerns in making the Bill retrospective, particularly with regard to confidential information received prior to the law coming into force. There are also practical issues and I am mindful of the fact that most abuse happens within families. In many cases, the facts of the abuse would be known by siblings or other family members who are not the perpetrators. Making the law retrospective and applicable to information received by a family member or a person who provided support to a victim many years ago would in many instances be unjust, potentially criminalising individuals who had in good faith decided it inappropriate to report an offence to the Garda at the time they became aware of it and who would not be able to show that their decision meets the revised standards required by the Bill.