Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and I thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to be here. It is appreciated. The purpose of my criminal justice (public order) (amendment) Bill 2019 is to achieve one simple goal, namely, ensure that sufficient measures are in place to protect nurses, gardaí, firefighters and ambulance personnel. On a daily basis, these workers put their lives at risk in doing their work.We are privileged to live in a civilised country, confident in the knowledge that the services we call on for help, whether nurses, gardaí, fire personnel or whoever else, will come to our aid. One would expect that when that help arrives, it is always welcomed and appreciated. Unfortunately, however, that is not always the case, and our emergency workers can find themselves in dangerous and threatening circumstances. The least we can do, as legislators, is to ensure that sufficient protections are in place to protect those who may be assaulted in the course of their duties. We can do that through enhancing laws that are already in place. To that end, the Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Amendment) Bill 2019 aims to provide for a stronger prison sentence in respect of an assault on a member of the emergency services and to provide for the introduction of a new offence, that is, the ramming of an emergency vehicle.

The facts speak for themselves. Ms Sylvia Chambers, speaking on behalf of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, recently at an Oireachtas committee, said that at least ten nurses are assaulted in hospitals daily. Last year 285 gardaí were assaulted. Forty-five of the National Ambulance Service's personnel were assaulted as they went about their daily work. I could cite more statistics but I know the Minister is very much aware of them. The consequences of these actions for staff can be devastating. The consequences for society are seen in the recruitment issues we are grappling with, both in respect of health and in justice.

Our job as legislators is to set out what we feel should be the minimum and maximum sentences for offences while at all times allowing the court the flexibility to adjudicate and deliver whatever sentence it sees fit, based on the evidence presented to it, that is only right. The law of the land needs to speak very clearly on this issue to anyone who strays over that line without good reason, if there ever is a good reason, and they should expect the full wrath of the law to come down upon them.

As I said, I introduced this Bill back in 2019 and I have been trying to progress it ever since. We have now reached Committee Stage. I commend the Minister on his work since coming into the office of and replacing the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in a temporary capacity. I thank him and his officials for their personal engagement on this. I have met with him on a number of occasions and I am confident of and heartened by his bona fides on this and on trying, as I said to him when we spoke earlier, to take a chainsaw to this Bill, if he so wishes. However, we are both committed to the same destination, a position whereby we have sufficient sentences in place such that people will think twice before they assault members of the emergency services as they go about their daily duties. We need to protect those who protect us. I look forward to the Minister's response.