Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

To reiterate what Senator Chambers said, I thank Senator Doherty sincerely for coming to me and seeking my support to sign this Bill and work with her. I thank her office for the tireless work it has done. I also thank Noeline Blackwell.

Character references come from a time when the legal system had strong views on who was respectable, and therefore worth believing, and who was not. They come from a time when the opinions of other respectable people or so-called respectable people in one's community mattered and often translated into a view of who could be believed or not. That time has passed. We must ensure our legal process reflects that. It is hard to pursue a conviction for sexual abuse. The number of prosecutions is very low. We need to ensure that we take away all of the barriers, both perceived and real, because it is difficult for a woman to come forward with these cases.

I will give a few examples of cases. Putting what we are talking about in real terms is important. Remember that these are all people who have been convicted of rape or sexual assault. They are not cross-examined, unlike the victims, who usually have to go through an ordeal where their sexual practice, the clothing they wear and so on all seem to be up for debate and public scrutiny. In Dublin in February of this year, 23 character references from across a community painted a picture of a good, respectable, hard-working man. They described him as a dedicated, honest and trustworthy person after he was convicted of sexually abusing three teenage girls who were friends of his children. In April 2021, in Dingle in Kerry, character references came from across the community, including from the GAA, in support of the character of a man who was convicted of raping a woman in her own home, which he was permitted into as he was a friend of the family of the victim. In 2017, in north Dublin, a sports journalist who had worked for The Irish Timespleaded guilty and was convicted of the sexual exploitation and defilement of a child. The offender groomed that child from when she was 14. He sent her thousands of messages and picked her up from sports matches in order to abuse her. Character references were provided by other high-profile journalists at the time. These are just a few examples of what we are talking about. These matters are in the public domain.