Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I welcome the Minister for Justice and Equality back to the Seanad for this debate.

The purpose of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Amendment) Bill 2019 is to achieve one simple goal, namely, ensuring that sufficient measures are in place to protect our nurses, gardaí, firefighters, accident and emergency personnel, ambulance personnel and Army personnel who, on a daily basis, put their lives at risk in doing their work. We live in a civilised country confident in the knowledge that in times of emergency there are services we can call on to help, whether it is the fire brigade, the ambulance or the Garda. However, emergency workers often find themselves in dangerous circumstances. They risk their lives as they work to help and save others. It is disappointing and even distressing that those we call on for help can themselves be put at risk through assault. Those working long hard hours in the emergency services repeatedly put themselves into dangerous situations for the sake of our safety and care. As a result, the onus is on us, as legislators, to protect our nurses, paramedics, gardaí, firefighters and others in front-line emergency services. The least we can do is ensure sufficient protections are in place to protect the people who may be assaulted in the course of their duties. We can do this through enhancing the laws already in place.

The facts are alarming. On a weekly basis, members of our emergency services are being targeted when performing their duties. Nurses have accounted for almost 70% of the total number of assaults on hospital staff in the past ten years according to figures released by the HSE. Between 2008 and the end of November 2018, some 10,744 staff reported assaults ranging from actual harm to near-misses and complaints. More than 7,500 of these assaults targeted nurses. In fact, by December 2018, a total of 948 incidents were reported. In 61% of cases, nurses were the victims. Doctors reported 25 assaults while other grades, including catering and housekeeping staff, reported a further 339 incidents. There have been 1,267 assaults on members of An Garda Síochána since 2012. In 2016, this figure was 259, representing an increase of almost 50% over a four-year period. Over 5,500 gardaí have now been injured in the line of duty since 2005. There were 102 cases of assault reported by firefighters and paramedics at Dublin Fire Brigade between 2013 and the end of 2017 according to figures released by Dublin City Council in 2018.There were 47 instances of violent harassment and aggression towards paramedics in 2016 alone, while 2017 saw 53 recorded incidents, 44 physical and nine verbal. In 2018, there were 32 recorded incidents, 23 physical and nine verbal. The Bill will see the introduction of a specific mandatory prison sentence of 12 months on summary conviction in respect of an assault on a member of the emergency services. It provides that on indictment, the mandatory prison sentence is increased to two years and may extend to a period of seven years' imprisonment at the court's discretion. The Bill will also provide for the offence of ramming of an emergency vehicle, with a mandatory prison sentence of 12 months on summary conviction, which increases to two years on indictment and is extendable to ten years at the court's discretion.

We in Ireland are not alone in our concerns for the safety of emergency and front-line workers. In September 2018, the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill was signed into law in Westminster, creating a new offence of assault against an emergency worker in the exercise of their functions with a penalty that was increased from six to 12 months. In Victoria, Australia, the Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2018 was introduced in Parliament in June 2018, making the injuring of an emergency worker a category 1 offence and bringing it to the same level as murder and rape. In New Zealand, a Bill proposing a mandatory minimum sentence for people who assault emergency staff is being considered in Parliament at the moment. We have an opportunity today to offer protection to those who protect us. I look forward to hearing other Members' comments and hope we get agreement such that the Bill will be enacted as soon as possible.