Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A lot has been said about this Bill between Second Stage and Committee Stage. I will not go over old ground, but will take the opportunity once again to thank Eve McDowell and Una Ring for their work in campaigning on this issue. They were undeterred. When they started this campaign it was not easy for them, but despite dealing with and recovering from their ordeals they very bravely took on the task of trying to bring about change to our laws, which is never easy to achieve. It was an honour and a privilege to work with them to bring the Bill to where it is today.

I believe that it is the first Private Members' Bill to pass all Stages this term, which is a significant achievement for all of us and for everyone who worked on the Bill. I thank all my colleagues, across parties, for their contributions to and support of this Bill. It has been a very good process for all of us. It also sends a powerful message from the Seanad that this side of the House, which is led by three women from the three Government parties, with some very strong contributions from male colleagues, recognises the need to improve and modernise our laws to make our streets safer for victims. It acknowledges the fact that these types of crimes predominantly affect women, in addition to the importance of sending out a strong message that we have acknowledged there are gaps in the law and that changes need to be made. This is just one of those small changes we think will make a very big difference to many victims.

As I said previously, we have looked to other jurisdictions, in particular Scotland, England and Wales, where stalking was made a stand-alone criminal offence more than a decade ago. That had a very real impact on the reporting of crimes. In Wales, for example, reporting increased by threefold when this law came into place and it also resulted in increased prosecutions. It has a direct impact on victims coming forward, the need to tell victims there is a process and, hopefully, encouraging more people to come forward to report what is a very serious crime that can escalate very quickly.

I will finish by thanking the Cathaoirleach for his latitude and all my colleagues for their support in getting this Bill to where it is. It is now over to the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee, to take this legislation through the Dáil. I hope to see the Bill being progressed at the earliest opportunity without any delay. We could, theoretically, have this Bill on the Statute Book in a number of weeks, if the political will is there to do so. We have done our work on this side and in this House, in addition to working with Eve McDowell and Una Ring, to produce this legislation. I will now hand it over to the Minister for Justice to bring this legislation through the Dáil as quickly as possible and to get this law on the Statute Book. That way we can say to Una and Eve that the work they have done has paid off and they have initiated and brought about real and meaningful change.