Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for their attendance here today. I welcome the Government’s support for this Bill. While the Bill is not perfect, I welcome the commitment to work with us to address some of the issues.I particularly welcome the sexual offences Bill that is due to be published later this year. It will on board the recommendation made in the O'Malley report that legal representation be provided for victims in the criminal justice system, as suggested in this Bill. I also acknowledge that what is not addressed in this legislation is that the significant portion of those convicted of sexual offences are children. This goes to highlight the enormous issue we have regarding the understanding of consent by some of our very young male adults. This is an issue we must address.

To touch briefly on something Senator Ward said regarding us having a breadth of experience of assault in this Chamber, which is very true, I would go so far as to say that the breadth of experience of assault probably extends to the 51% of the population of this country who are women. While there exists the renowned fact that probably one-in-four women, at whatever age, have experienced sexual trauma or assault in this country, I suggest that proportion is probably closer to 50% plus. I also suggest that there is not a single person here who does not know or know of a victim of a serious assault that has never been reported to anybody. We have an exceptionally serious problem in this regard, which the Minister has been attempting to address in recent years through her endeavours. I sincerely thank her for that and I wish her well. I look forward to working with my two colleagues here, who have supported this Bill since the conception of the idea by Noeleen Blackwell of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, to bring about the passage of this legislation through this House and Dáil Éireann in the coming months. I refer to finding a successful resolution to addressing the issue of the retraumatising of our female victims in the context of sexual crimes. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, and the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee.