Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief, because I know that we have a long night ahead of us again. The Minister will have to take up residence in this House. I welcome the Bill, which is another piece of reforming legislation from the Minister, among others that she has introduced since coming into Government. The Government gave an undertaking to reduce the length of time for completion of the asylum seeking process. Heretofore, that delay was one of the main criticisms of conditions involved in the process.

We may not have sufficient time to debate this reforming Bill, but I know that the Minister and her staff have put much time and effort into its preparation. I want to concentrate on a couple of aspects of the Bill, particularly section 7. I welcome the inclusion of sexual violence and gender-based violence, which may amount to acts of persecution. In its submission, the Immigrant Council of Ireland stated that domestic violence should also be specifically named in the Bill, but as currently drafted it is not. That would provide clarity to women that they may apply on those grounds also. We have seen the problems associated with domestic violence both here and abroad.

That recommendation was also supported by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality in its interim report. If that were done it would be welcome. I suggest that a change be made to the charging rules of the Director of Public Prosecution, because everything concerning domestic violence has to be referred back to this office. A Garda at the rank of inspector or higher should give direction to charge in cases of domestic violence. I am mentioning that issue in the context of this Bill, although it could not be included in the legislation before us.

Section 24 should include a definition for an unaccompanied minor. In addition, we must ascertain who is accompanying that minor. The relationship is important, because the person accompanying a minor into this country could be a trafficker. A recent television programme on sexual violence and prostitution showed young girls coming in from Romania, Bulgaria and elsewhere. They were being trafficked into this country and they cannot say "boo."

That brings me to the element of training authorised officers. If a person does not have specific training in how to recognise or analyse the adult, child or unaccompanied minor involved, then specialised training is required. An unaccompanied minor will not be able to say what is going on, although I know that individual interviews occur. The child's rights should be protected in cases of trafficked minors, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by an adult. Senator Van Turnhout spoke about how the rights of the child are identified. Sections 24, 35 and 52 to 56, inclusive, contain references to the best interests of and the rights of the child. However, the whole Bill should be child-proofed in every section. The definition of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees should also be part of the Bill, as should the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Senator Van Turnhout quoted from the submission on the Bill made by the Children's Rights Alliance, which contains so many good recommendations. Many of them are contained in the Bill, but others could be inserted also. As Senator Van Turnhout said, primary consideration should be given to the rights of the child.

The role of the Ombudsman for Children is important, as are the qualifications of the authorised officers and their relationship in the context of the complaints mechanism. These things should be incorporated into the Bill. All interviewing officers should be properly trained to deal with children as well as identifying women who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence. Such officers must receive specific training and support in that regard.

I will revert to the issue of domestic violence later, but it is one that I would like to see defined and strengthened in the Bill. I congratulate the Minister on her introduction of this Bill, which has been awaited for ten years.