Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice to the House and fáilte roimh an Cathaoirleach to the Seanad. This is one of the initiatives that this Seanad had undertaken for the renewal of the Seanad. A number of reports have suggested bringing in the Chairs of committees to the Seanad after they have published reports, examining the recommendations of those reports and seeing what action has been taken regarding those reports. All too often many Members here have served on committees where the reports are published and then there is perhaps a lack of action on the recommendations thereafter. When Senators, Deputies and, indeed, the Chairs of committees put the effort in, and witnesses and organisations come before committees, it is beholden on us all to follow up on the recommendations, on foot of those witnesses' testimony and the efforts put in by everybody. The recommendations are often argued over by committee members. However, we are lucky that in this Parliament more often than not the majority of reports get unanimous approval from the committee members, and there is no or very rarely any division on it. This report is probably the most important report we have on the Order Paper at the moment as it relates to the issue of rape and sexual assault. As we know, all too often less then 10% of victims report incidents of sexual violence or rape to gardaí. As I am sure the Chair will outline, the number of convictions is extraordinarily low and many victims feel like they are retraumatised by the system that we currently have at this moment in time.

I welcome Deputy James Lawless to the House to outline the work that the committee put in, and obviously the testimony that came before the committee and the recommendations of the report. I note in his report that he has sent a copy to the Department and the Minister. The committee did so when it published the report. Perhaps we will hear the response the committee got to the recommendations and will hear what actions its members are aware of that have been implemented on foot of their recommendations.