Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. The European Union victims of crimes directive 2012 provides for certain rights for victims when reporting a crime. These include provision for victims to receive a written acknowledgement of their complaint from the police. The acknowledgement should state the basic elements of the crime, such as the type of crime, the time and place of occurrence and any damage or harm caused by the crime. The acknowledgement should include a file number and the time and place for reporting of the crime to serve as evidence that the crime has been reported.
Furthermore, victims should be provided with information about their rights in sufficient detail to ensure they are treated in a respectful manner and to enable them to make informed decisions about their participation in proceedings. The directive requires that information enabling the victim to know the current status of any proceedings should be provided. The directive states that such information is relevant to enabling a victim to decide whether to request a review of a decision not to prosecute.
In the United Kingdom districts of Kent, Somerset, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire police constabularies are providing such an information service to victims of crime. It can be accessed by the public by logging onto TrackMyCrime.police.uk. In the participating police constabularies victims of crime are given a reference number which they can use to log in to a secure website to get information on the status of the criminal investigation relevant to them.
I believe this Government should introduce a similar online system for victims of crime to follow the progress of Garda investigations. Victims of crime often feel left out in the cold when it comes to the Garda investigation of their cases. They have legitimate questions, such as whether someone been arrested for vandalising a car or whether the Garda has arrested the people breaking into houses in a given area. Victims can become frustrated when they struggle to contact the particular investigating garda, who may be off duty or on patrol. A dedicated website would act as a one-stop-shop information source and would be a great tool for victims. Furthermore, it could be easily updated by the relevant investigating garda.
There has been widespread public support in the UK for the TrackMyCrime.police.ukservice. Diminished resources are available to the Garda. Notwithstanding recent positive announcements it remains the case that the numbers in the Garda have fallen from 14,500 in 2010 to 12,900 today. We have 139 fewer Garda stations now compared with 2011. In a sense we have an under-resourcing problem and there is also the question of how the reduced number of gardaí use the time available to them. Gardaí often spend time trying to get hold of victims to provide them with an update. It seems to me that an easy-to-use online service would fill the information deficit that victims encounter and save on valuable Garda resources as well.
I believe this would be an innovative thing to do. Ireland has a track record in innovative schemes in the criminal justice area - I have in mind the Criminal Assets Bureau. If the Government could think outside the box then, in the context of transposing the victims of crime directive, we could make real progress in assisting victims of crime to get relevant information, for example, information relating to the filing of charges, whether a suspect has been detained or the setting of a court date. Moreover, they could get this information in a more timely fashion than applies currently.