David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It might be worthwhile at this stage to summarise the key issues as outlined in a letter to Senator Mark Daly.

The Bill creates a new offence of corporate manslaughter and a new offence of grossly negligent manslaughter causing death. The expert legal advice confirmed that the following main issues would need to be clarified and addressed: the range of public bodies to which the Bill would apply; the range of unincorporated bodies to which the Bill would apply; the availability of appropriate defences and exemptions, with particular regard to work that necessarily involves a risk of death or serious injury, such as emergency services; and the threshold for the offences under the Bill.

The advice also raised particular issues on the proposed individual offence in section 3 of grossly negligent manslaughter causing death. One of the issues here is the extent to which the offence, which is focused on eliminating risk, should apply to circumstances where there is an unavoidable element of risk. The Minister understands that consultations across Departments have identified concerns that the proposed new offence could have unintended effects on services which inevitably involve a degree of risk. There is no doubt that persons guilty of serious wrongdoing should be held to account. We must, however, guard against unintended consequences where employees and volunteers are unduly exposed to criminal liability. For example, the Minister is advised that even the perception of potential liability to prosecution could have a chilling effect on the involvement of volunteers in some sectors. We must also try to ensure that there is no undue tension between prosecuting wrongdoing and encouraging, or indeed requiring, openness and candour.It is important to remember, too, that there is already a common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter. In the neighbouring jurisdiction, when legislation on corporate manslaughter was enacted in 2007, it was decided not to enact an individual offence also but to rely on the common law offence. The Minister wants me to reiterate that the Government is ready and willing to work with the sponsoring Senators and the whole House in addressing the issues raised by the Bill. The Minister and I would like to repeat the offer of further engagement with officials, if Senators it would be helpful, and that we are open to other suggestions they may have. We do need to make progress on this important issue, but we also need to get it right to avoid what could be serious unintended consequences. That will involve some more work in analysing the issues involved and preparing amendments, but the Government is ready to continue this work with the sponsors of the Bill.

On behalf of the Minister, I once again thank the Senators for raising this important matter. The Minister and I look forward to seeing progress made on it.