Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of Young Fine Gael for their hard work on this, in identifying an issue that really needed to be focused on to shine the spotlight on it. I thank Senator Ward for helping to bring it to this point, and Senators Doherty and Seery Kearney for their involvement. It is great to be part of a party that is a campaigning party, because that is what it is all about. I very much support the idea that spiking is a stand-alone offence, because there are layers to this. It is not just as simple as poisoning legislation, as many people have said. It is not just the spiking element of it; it is the intent to inflict more harm thereafter. The victims are put in a situation where they lose all their capabilities, they are put in a state of extreme vulnerability and then suffer the consequences, whether that is a sexual attack or a theft. Whatever the consequences, they are long-lasting. I would imagine that everybody has experienced spiking to some extent. If they have not, they will know somebody who has been spiked, they will have been in the presence of somebody who has been spiked, or they will have been that person. It is that common. I was in the pharmacy last week, and noticed that you can now buy sachets for €4.95 to put into a drink to see whether or not it has been spiked. I have two young daughters, who are eight and ten. The way time goes, it will not be long before they start going out. I am imagining myself as that parent, stuffing those sachets into their purses for fear of something happening to them. I do not want them to live in a world where they go on a night out, have fun at an age where they are supposed to be experiencing the best in life, and perhaps experience something awful.

My biggest concern is not just that we deliver on this, but the numbers. The numbers do not make sense, considering we all know somebody who has been spiked. There have been 75 spiking incidents recorded on PULSE for the first nine months of this year and 106 were recorded last year. People are not reporting incidents. I think that goes back to the issue of whether they feel they are somehow responsible. There is a grey area here. We are still in a position where victims are thinking it was just that they drank too much. It cannot be a grey area. It needs to be black and white. In 2021, there were only 26 drink-related spikings and 36 needle-related spikings. It does not make sense to me that there would be more needle-related spikings than regular spikings. Part of this has to be about communication, and reaching out to people from an early age. We must put across how this is entirely unacceptable. It is a crime and it should not be tolerated. I look forward to the legislation being progressed.

On the Minister's last day as Minster for Justice, I thank him sincerely for all his work in the past six months. I appreciate him coming to Bragan Bog on Monday for what was a very moving experience, and for supporting the families of the disappeared. I thank him for all of his work.