Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I am pleased she is supporting this amendment Bill and, in doing so, ensuring the work of my colleague Senator Chambers and of Una Ring and Eve McDowell in Stalking Ireland will come to fruition and help protect the women of Ireland and, indeed, some men.

I welcome the taking of Report and Final Stages of this amendment Bill in the House today. I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me the opportunity to say a few words on it. I commend the tireless work my colleague and our party leader in the Seanad, Senator Chambers, has put into this legislation and pay tribute to her tenacity and dedication to representing victims of stalking. I also commend Una Ring and Eve McDowell, whom I along with Senator Chambers and my Fianna Fáil Party colleagues had the pleasure of meeting, on the bravery and courage they have shown in their work in supporting and working on this legislation with Senator Chambers.

We need the crime of stalking to be explicitly recognised on our Statute Book. This Bill does exactly that. There is no doubting the public support there is for it. I have been contacted by several constituents who are fully supportive of this provision. I have no doubt all Senators have had that experience in the areas they represent.

We have a duty as legislators to ensure insidious, intimidating and premeditated acts are dealt with effectively. We owe it to the victims and to An Garda Síochána to ensure our justice system is equipped to deal with instances of stalking. This Bill is balanced, supported by victims and long overdue. The Law Reform Commission has already recommended that specific stalking offences be enacted. As I have said on previous Stages, there is no excuse for anyone in either House of the Oireachtas to delay the adoption of this legislation. Therefore, I am glad we are where we are today.

It is important to distinguish again between an act of harassment and a campaign of stalking. There is a distinct difference between the two. As matters stand, stalkers are likely to be charged on the basis of having harassed their victims, if they are charged at all. We have seen a rise in violence and intimidation in this country, mainly perpetrated by men against women. We must be seen to act swiftly to stamp this out, be it gender-based violence, public disorder or stalking. The citizens we represent want assurances that these Houses will protect them and that we will provide the Garda and courts with the flexibility and powers to ensure real justice is served. I again commend my colleagues on their tireless advocacy and give my full support to the Bill.