Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We in the Labour Party welcome this Bill and I thank the Fianna Fáil Senators for bringing it forward. As we have heard from a number of accounts and from reading the LRC report, stalking is a deeply insidious and appalling violation of a person's dignity, safety and security. I pay tribute to Una Ring, Eve McDowell, and, indeed, Senator Keogan, for sharing their stories.

This is a welcome Bill but it is important to say, particularly to the Department of Justice, that this ask is not new. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has been calling for a change in the law and, as has been said, the LRC has also called for a new offence of stalking. When my colleague, Deputy Brendan Howlin, was introducing Coco's Law, or the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill, there was a provision for stalking in it but when it was going through the Houses, he was prevailed upon to remove that provision for stalking as a separate offence, with the promise that it would be dealt with at a later date. Unfortunately, we have now come to this; a Private Members' Bill has had to be brought forward to deal with it.

As I said, we are glad that this issue is now back on the agenda, in the form of separate, stand-alone legislation. The big difference now is that we have two such powerful advocates in Una Ring and Eve McDowell. We have all watched and listened to them speak with such dignity today. The genesis of Coco's Law was that the mother of Nicole Fox Fenlon was so fiercely determined that nobody else's daughter, or son, would ever have to go through what her daughter did, or would not get justice in the way that her daughter did not. Unfortunately, she is not here today.

It is great that we have cross-party support but the key issue now is making sure there is speedy passage of this Bill through the Houses. I am struck by how far behind Ireland is in comparison with England, Scotland and Wales, as has been referenced. Scotland made this an offence 11 years ago. It has taken us until now for the Department of Justice to, hopefully, accept this Bill and have stalking as a distinct and separate offence.

While it is one thing to put in place the measures to identify stalking as a crime, we cannot forget the conversation about the supports and the enforcement. Senator Keogan made that point about how An Garda Síochána is resourced in pursuing prosecutions for this crime. In a separate but related area, I have spoken to quite a number of women over the past few weeks who have been victims of assault, rape, harassment, and other related offences and they have been badly let down by the counselling services in this country. There are some fantastic counselling services but there are significant waits of up to 12 months in some parts of the country for those services after an event has happened, when going through the courts system, or after a prosecution or a lack of conviction. That also deserves attention because it is one thing to put in place the law but it is a very different matter to put in place the supports around it. That needs to be part of the conversation. Let us pass this Bill speedily through the Houses but let us also follow up with action. I commend our colleagues in Fianna Fáil on bringing forward this Bill.