Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. This legislation is both important and welcome. The Labour Party supported it previously and will do so again today. Unfortunately, we are all too aware of the enormous damage done by sex offenders and have thankfully begun to form a better understanding of this damage recently. In recent years, ineffective legislation has begun to be replaced. This has strengthened our laws and allowed for overdue development of support for victims. It is an ongoing process, particularly around the need to develop and improve support for those victims. We need to continue the momentum of developing a legal framework to support and protect victims, but we also need to invest further in community supports for them when they need them most.

Like previous speakers here and those who contributed to the debate in the Dáil, I acknowledge the work of various rape crisis centres and thank them for the much-needed crisis support, as I did on the previous occasion on which the Minister of State was in the House. I ask Government to continue to invest in, support and develop these centres, which are an invaluable resource. Their importance continues to grow as the State moves from the shadows of unacceptable days gone by when too much went unnoticed, unsaid and unacted upon.

I acknowledge the recent Bill, which we were happy to co-sign, from my colleague from County Kildare, Senator Martin, which we hope, as the Minister of State said, will encourage more victims to come forward, rather than closing the door on domestic and sexual abuse, as has too often been the case in the past.

We are in an age of different types of abuse. Online abuse suffered by many victims destroys lives and needs to be called out an every opportunity. I thank my colleague, Deputy Howlin, for his considerable work in the context of the introduction of Coco’s Law. I acknowledge the support of the Government on that legislation and that of the Houses of the Oireachtas in passing it. As Deputy Howlin stated, it was another important brick in the wall that we must build to protect the most vulnerable in this State.After a number of clinics last night, I had the opportunity to watch "Crimecall" on RTÉ. A number of disturbing cases were detailed and it was reported that more than 70 offences under this new legislation are currently under investigation and progressing since the important legislation was introduced. Of course, the Bill we are discussing today amends the Sex Offenders Act 2001 to improve the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community. The Minister of State detailed a number of the aspects of the Bill in his opening address and my colleagues have gone through the legislation in detail. I am not going to go through the same detail. The Labour Party will support the Bill as it makes its way through this House. I thank the Minister of State for introducing this important legislation.