Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome this Bill. I commend Senator Kelleher and all her colleagues in this House and those outside it who have helped her with this initiative.

Sometimes, when we see a proposal to establish a new statutory body, we can query whether it might be easy to propose and difficult to oppose. In respect of this issue however, I think we now have sufficient experience to judge that adults who are at risk really do not have the protective system that we accord to children by means of the Ombudsman for Children or similar bodies. The adults in question really are an isolated group of people. They depend on agencies such as HIQA and so on to pick up indications of their potential abuse. There is a very strong case for, first, enshrining in law an obligation on mandated people to do something about any information in their possession relating to an adult at risk in order to safeguard them from harm and, second, setting up a mechanism for something to be done about any information that they impart on foot of their mandated duty, and for steps to be taken to protect adults at risk.

We all know, increasingly now, of cases of adults - not merely in care institutions, but sometimes in the care of their families - who are abused and subjected to humiliating treatment and a lifetime of misery. Part of the background in which those kind of things can occur is the absence of a national policy and a national mechanism for dealing with such cases.

I do not want to add to the troubles of An Garda Síochána, but I was struck by the recent figures, which were mentioned in last weekend's edition of The Sunday Times, relating to the differential in domestic abuse reportage in this part of Ireland compared to Northern Ireland. I fully understand why that may have been the case. It may have been a legacy of a previous time, when what went on within a home belonged within that home, the family was to be respected as an institution and gardaí were disinclined to become involved, even in cases of domestic violence. Whatever the reason, this differential is wholly unacceptable.

The disinclination to become involved and the inclination to avoid becoming involved in messy situations where it would be difficult, for example, to sustain the necessary ingredients to a criminal investigation, form part of a background in which we find that people are left vulnerable and without any real help. I just mentioned the psychology that would lead gardaí to stand away from domestic violence. Even if one tries to understand that psychology, which I do not think we should try to do anymore, it probably indicates a national characteristic to avert our eyes and not become involved, not be seen as busybodies, not make reports and not risk offending people or creating misunderstanding. This leaves vulnerable people with no real assistance or hope of an end to their suffering at all.

Having said that, I really do believe that this legislation is a very valuable starting point. I am delighted that it has such cross-party support. I know that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will probably have a fit when it sees the Bill because it will ask who is going to fund all this. Words are cheap. Apologies are cheap. Commissions of investigation are not cheap but they are a great way of doing nothing while other people give one time to work out where one stands on issues. This Bill puts it up to us, as parliamentarians, to consider whether we will do something for adults at risk. It is a worthwhile Bill. It should pass Second Stage and be accepted by the Government. I await the Minister of State's response to it.