Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This amendment seeks to insert a new offence in the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 modelled on the existing coercive control offence in the Domestic Violence Act 2018. However, this new offence would apply to everyone - not just intimate partners. People working with people at risk of abuse, coercion and exploitation understand that coercive control does not just happen in intimate relationships. I know the Minister understands this and I appreciate her considered response to me on Committee Stage and for meeting with me on this issue. She expressed her view that the issue needs to be addressed but stated that more work needs to be done to define a new offence and not just extend the existing offence. I understand all that and that the Minister is very cautious on this issue but I must talk about the fact that those who are campaigning on the issue, particularly with regard to adult safeguarding, have reason to be sceptical of caution and delay from Government figures. My Civil Engagement Group colleague former Senator Colette Kelleher introduced a comprehensive adult safeguarding Bill way back in 2017 that was shelved due to an over-abundance of caution and that is the concern here. The Government promised its own version and six years on, we have yet to see it. In the meantime, many people have been harmed. Some of the stories have been horrific. They have had their dignity and autonomy violated by bad actors who could have been stopped by adult safeguarding legislation.

This is a dual issue. On the civil side, we need comprehensive adult safeguarding legislation to create systems that protect people from being made vulnerable while on the criminal side, we need an offence that adequately captures the coercion and control to which people are made subject by abusers who are not intimate partners. Delay can create harm. I am worried about that so with that in mind, I think the best way to mitigate that harm is for the Minister to accept this amendment and to pass and enact Senator Kelleher's Bill. If this is not considered possible, organisations campaigning on the issue of adult safeguarding like Safeguarding Ireland, Sage Advocacy and the Irish Association of Social Workers deserve a clear and firm timetable for when these legislative changes will be introduced in Government legislation. That is my ask today. I ask the Minister to meet with those organisations and to move more quickly than has been the case. I know this is something the Minister is willing to do, which I am really happy to hear. These organisations have been fighting very hard and people have been waiting too long to be continually left in the dark. I thank the Minister for her consideration. I appreciate it.