Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 18 be taken before No. 1. This will be seconded by Senator Dolan. The Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023 is being brought forward by the Fine Gael Group. Its purpose is to formally put spiking on the Statute Book as a stand-alone offence under the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act. Until now, an allegation of spiking is generally dealt with under poisoning and under sexual assault if it results in sexual assault. However, we believe that this is so serious it deserves to be a stand-alone offence. I pay tribute to Young Fine Gael, which has done a lot of work and advocacy in this regard. Last year, notifications to An Garda Síochána of spiking went from ten to 106. I think 106 is a drop in the ocean in terms of what is going on. I think of work done by people like Noeline Blackwell, who says that the drug of choice for spiking is giving people more alcohol than they think they are taking. This includes masking, where a person at a social occasions may think they are taking one shot when they may actually be given three. This disables and disarms them for sexual exploitation and assault, physical assault for theft, or sometimes just for the fun of it. It is not funny to disable somebody to such an extent that they have no control over themselves, no knowledge of what happens and no memory of it the next day. It masks all sorts of assaults. The HSE has an incredibly useful website, which gives advice to people. It is important that we support an information campaign to ensure that, when people are out socialising they are aware that there are actions they can take if they find themselves to be in a more drunken state or a less inhibited state than they had anticipated. They should get themselves to someone of safety, for example An Garda Síochána. They should borrow someone else's phone if their phone has been stolen, and they should never leave a premises with somebody they do not know. That may invariably result in sexual assault. In many instances, when we talk to people affected by this, we find they have never made a report to An Garda Síochána. They are too embarrassed that this happened, and carry some sense of culpability when they have none. This is an assault on someone, hence our desire to make sure this is a stand-alone offence on the Statute Book. The mere fact of its being there becomes a deterrent to people doing this as a joke, or for more sinister reasons.