Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking this Bill today. I speak on behalf of the entire Fine Gael group when I say that the drafting of this Bill would not have been possible without the work of Young Fine Gael. Yes, we put it on paper and our justice spokesperson, Senator Ward, translated it into legislative language, but we owe a real debt of gratitude to the YFG team here for bringing this issue to the fore in first place. Through its tireless campaign called #PricklessNight on college campuses, in meeting rooms and on social media, they have very much demonstrated not just to us but to themselves why they were established by Garret FitzGerald back in 1977 to be the conscience of the young people of our party, and to develop policies which directly impact and effect young people.

We hope the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023 will genuinely make a difference and will change the way our criminal justice system approaches spiking. This is this is something which is a real cause of worry for every young woman, every vulnerable man and, indeed, every parent of those young women and men.

We all know what spiking is and I do not believe I need to define it for the House or for anybody watching. We all agree that it is heinous crime. For the perpetrators, it is incredibly heinous and, in fact, in most cases it is used to put the victim, a vulnerable person, in the most vulnerable position to allow the perpetrator to take advantage of them either from a motive of a sexual violent crime, an assault violent crime, or indeed robbery.

For the victim, it is a violation of personal autonomy and consent and it genuinely robs them of their agency, it infringes upon their rights to make their own decisions independently, and it takes that away from them completely. It undermines trust and creates an atmosphere of fear and vulnerability. We all know that atmosphere is visible in pubs and clubs everywhere due to the mere possibility of spiking, whether or not the act has taken place. This is just the atmosphere it invokes and I very much do not think that should be acceptable to our young people and it definitely should not be acceptable to legislators.

Nobody should have to constantly look over their shoulder when they are going out for a pint on a Tuesday or Friday night, or for a dance on a Saturday night, and to expect somebody else to take advantage of them if they were put in that vulnerable position.

At the same time, I do not believe we can pretend it is not a reality and while the numbers from the Minister’s Department show there is a significant growth, the fear of the crime is far greater than those numbers show.

We cannot stop worrying about it and stop telling our daughters and our young fellows at home to mind themselves and not to worry themselves. We need to take action. We will be unapologetic in proposing that we make this a stand-alone Bill for the perpetrators of spiking. They have been known in the past as date rape drugs for a reason. God forgive me, but if that is the person’s intention then that person should definitely be going to prison.