Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased also to be here this evening, with the support of my Fianna Fáil colleagues, to move this Bill during Fianna Fáil Private Members' time.

As Members will be aware, the Bill seeks to introduce a stand-alone offence of stalking into Irish law which is characterised by repeated, unwanted behaviour that occurs as a result of fixation or obsession and causes alarm, distress or harm to the victim. This offence, in this Bill, would carry a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment. Earlier this year, two very brave women, Una Ring from Cork and Eve McDowell from Sligo, both victims of stalking, came together to campaign for a change in the law in this area that would make stalking a stand-alone offence. They both drew on their own lived experience of being victims of stalking and highlighted the deficiencies in Irish law and the inadequacies in the justice system they had to go through to bring their perpetrators to justice. I heard both women on the radio a number of months ago as I was driving to work in Leinster House, and I was struck by both of their ordeals and what they had been through. I was even more struck, as a legislator and as a lawyer, that such a law did not exist. I was not aware that we did not have a stand-alone offence of stalking and was quite taken aback by that. I felt that, in this day and age, this was a clear omission on our part and this was a gap in the law that we should close. Had I not heard both women on the radio and had they not started their campaign, this Bill would not be here today, so I want to commend both of them for the campaign they set up. We would not have the Bill we have on Second Stage Bill at all if it was not for their immense work over the past number of months.

Thankfully, both of their attackers are now behind bars in jail, but for a relatively short period, given the ordeal they put their victims through and what both Eve and Una are continuing to have to live with as a result of what they experienced. I ask Members to reflect on the experiences of both women and the many other women victims of stalking in this country, and to ask themselves whether the current laws are sufficient.

In Una's case, she knew her attacker through the workplace. They were not friends as such, but they were colleagues at work in a normal work relationship. That changed over time and it became an obsession and a fixation, where he moved job but he lured her to his place of employment. Then the text messages and telephone calls started. That did not get him where he wanted to get to and she quickly rebuffed his advances, but he then proceeded to escalate his behaviours. He spray-painted her car, he spray-painted her house and he left messages. He sent her letters outlining what he was going to do and what she was going to put up with. Thankfully, Una had a very good response from gardaí locally in Cork, who took this seriously. It resulted in gardaí camping outside her house between midnight and 5 a.m. every night to keep her safe. Ultimately, her attacker arrived at her home with a rape kit - a dildo, crowbar and rope - with the clear intention of doing serious harm and potentially taking her life. Thankfully, he was caught but he will serve less than four years in prison for what he did. Meanwhile, Una will live with the impact of this for much longer. I pose the question: does the word “harassment” cover that? I suggest it does not adequately cover what she has been through and the seriousness of the crime.

The other co-founder of Stalking Ireland is Eve McDowell. Each situation is so unique and different. Eve was in college in Galway. She lived on the same campus as her attacker but they did not know each other, they did not have a prior relationship and they had never gone out or anything like that. He took to following her around, never with any direct contact, unlike the previous case. He was not messaging, he was not calling, but he was coming into the shop where she worked. Then he stopped coming in and was just walking around outside all day. She ended up having to leave her job. He then ended up hanging around outside her house in the bushes. He shaved off his hair, his eyebrows and his beard. He tried to break into her property a couple of times. No statement was taken and nothing was done about it until one evening when her friend was sleeping on the couch in the apartment because she had forgotten the key to her room. That friend had opened the balcony doors to let some air in. The next thing, there was a creak on the floorboards and there he was, in the house, with a hammer. He attacked her friend with the intention of getting into Eve’s bedroom.

Again, I pose the question: does the word “harassment” cover that? I suggest it does not.

We have a poor track record in this country of listening to victims and framing our response in the terms that they have set out, and a poor track record of listening to women. This is predominately a women’s safety issue. I attach a caveat to that as, of course, stalking can affect men and women, and it is estimated that one in ten victims is male. However, women are predominantly the victims and men are the perpetrators. We have to listen carefully to what these women are telling us. It is not just Una and Eve. Because of the campaign they started, they now have almost 11,000 signatures in support of this legislation. The very least we can do, as legislators, is to listen and take action. I have no doubt I will have the support of this House in doing that.

In terms of why this legislation is so important, the response from the Department of Justice until this evening - obviously, we will wait to hear the Minister of State's response to this debate - has been that the current harassment laws are sufficient because, for want of a better phrase, they were beefed up last year and there is a stronger sentence of up to seven years. However, words matter, words have impact and words have a meaning. By using the term “harassment”, we minimise the seriousness of the crime and we minimise the experiences of the victim.

Even more than that, the Law Reform Commission, LRC, had recommended in its "Report on Harmful Communications and Digital Safety" in 2016 that this become a stand-alone offence in law. It expressed a view that consideration should be given to having a stand-alone offence of stalking in Irish law for good reason. It looked at other jurisdictions, in particular at England, Scotland and Wales, where this has been law for more than a decade. It looked at the impact of having enacted those laws in those countries. To take Wales as an example, between 2014 and 2018, because of the enactment of a law providing for a stand-alone offence of stalking, there was a trebling of reporting of stalking offences in that jurisdiction. If 2019 is compared with 2015, there was a doubling of charges brought against perpetrators for those types of offences. Straightaway, we see a very real impact in terms of the level of reporting, of victims coming forward and of that carrying through to charges being brought and then prosecutions, and people getting the justice they deserve from the justice system. That is why the LRC recommended that we follow suit and do the same. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice did not act upon that and is still today failing to act upon that recommendation.

We also know from victims that their experiences with gardaí and the justice system fall short of what we would all like to see happen. In Una’s case, she had a very good response. Gardaí were on-site, they were at her house and they were so helpful, giving their mobile numbers and saying, “Call me anytime” - it was really an “above and beyond” response. The same could not be said in Eve’s case, where, repeatedly, she was calling the Garda station, having to explain herself every time, and trying to convince somebody that she feared for life, and she was right to fear for her life. We need to have a uniform approach across An Garda Síochána, which is going to require additional training to make sure that every garda is up to speed on what stalking is, what it means, the seriousness of the offence and how quickly it can escalate.

One of the points Eve and Una have constantly made regarding the difference between harassment and stalking is that we should look to the intent of the attacker. What is the intent of a harasser and what is the intent of a stalker? The endgame is very different and that shows the clear distinction. Stalking is going up a notch in terms of seriousness. Let us take, for example, the laws on assault. There are different degrees of assault and they are clearly laid out in different sections of legislation because one section cannot cover the entire spectrum of offences. The same can be said for harassment legislation. It cannot cover everything from unwanted repeated text messages to entering someone's home with a rape kit with the intention to kill him or her. It is too much for one section to cover. That is why we need a stand-alone offence of stalking.

We will see a very different attitude and a very different approach from the Garda and the Judiciary when there is a separate offence of stalking. Straightaway, we are saying we attach a higher seriousness to this. Straightaway, gardaí will know that this is a bigger deal than perhaps text messages, although I am not minimising that because everything has a psychological impact and stays with the victim. Similarly, when it goes before the Judiciary, if a prosecution is being brought for stalking as opposed to harassment, straightaway, the judge is on notice that this is a more serious crime because they are bringing forward a case under this section as opposed to the lower of offence of harassment. It has an impact on the attitude of all of the arms of the Judiciary and the Garda, and on the attitude of the public.

To conclude, I have been struck by the bravery of Una Ring and Eve McDowell, who have, time and again, had to recount their ordeals on various media platforms, and to friends and family, just to lay bare everything they have been through and the impact on themselves. They got their day in court, they will say. It was partial justice, in my view, and I think they will agree with that. In Eve's case, her perpetrator was charged with aggravated burglary because it was the most serious offence they could get him on, which means he is now in prison for just that incident in her home, but nothing in the run-up to that, and that has had a significant psychological impact on her. We are now at a position where we can help other potential victims not to have to go through the same ordeal again, which is very important.If I could ask for one thing from this debate, it is that we should not repeat the mistakes of the past. Let us listen to victims and women and take our lead from them. There is a concrete basis to make this change from the Law Reform Commission and from other jurisdictions that we often take our lead from. I respectfully request that the Department of Justice and Minister for Justice reflect on their current position and amend it to get this Bill to its conclusion.