Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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1433.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will report on the work of the victims forum established by her Department; the number of times the forum has met; the agendas for those meetings; the mechanism for reporting to her Department; how recommendations are incorporated into the work plan of her Department; how meetings of the forum are advertised; if submissions can be made to it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31056/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Victim’s Forum was established for state, social and community groups to discuss how best to work together to meet the needs of victims. The Forum is co-chaired by a representative of the sector and a senior official from my Department.

The Victims Forum will operate in line with the Transparency Code prepared by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in accordance with section 5(7) of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. As such the minutes of the forum, together with the terms of reference and list of members, will be published on the Department of Justice website shortly.

The structure of the forum is designed to encourage attendants to address issues in relation to strengthening national coordination, awareness raising, and protection of victims, review of legislation, service provision and referral of victims between agencies as necessary for access to services.

Attendance at the forum is by invitation, which is comprised of key stakeholders funded under the Departments’ Victims of Crime grant scheme and the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence grant scheme.

To date, the forum have met on five occasions including in two facilitated workshops to gather member input into the most appropriate terms of reference for the Forum; into how the Forum can best and most effectively deliver on its objectives; and to identify what priority issues the Forum members feel need to be discussed.

Members of the Forum are encouraged to drive the agenda and can communicate with my Department via a designated email address. In line with this, follow up actions will be developed after each meeting to ensure the implementation of decisions and recommendations.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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1434.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the inconsistency of treatment of victims of violent crime; and her plans to ensure that all victims receive regular and timely information about what to expect of their experience of the criminal justice system, where applicable. [31057/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Improving the experience of all victims engaging with the criminal justice system has been a priority for me since taking office.

I'm acutely conscious that coming forward to report sexual and/or domestic violence can be a deeply traumatic experience for victims and I am determined to do everything in my power to ensure that the criminal justice system empowers victims to have the confidence to report an offence, knowing they will be supported, informed, and treated respectfully and professionally for the entirety of the difficult journey they have to face.

A significant amount of work has been undertaken in this area, including through the implementation of ‘Supporting a Victims Journey’; a detailed implementation plan to give effect to the recommendations made in the O’ Malley Review, which I published in 2020.

This work has included:

• The establishment of a course in University of Limerick to train intermediaries; with the register now open for graduates of the course to formally apply to work in our courts, supporting witnesses;
• Legislating for preliminary trial hearings;
• Undertaking a mapping exercise to identify gaps in services and supports provided for victims, both geographically and by service type, and the provision of increased funding to address them;
• The establishment of a dedicated sexual offences unit in the Director of Public Prosecutions;
• The nationwide rollout of Divisional Protective Services Units which ensures that vulnerable victims are dealt with by Gardaí who have specialist expertise;
• An improved Victims Charter website, providing a comprehensive repository of information for victims, which has a dedicated section providing specialist information for victims of sexual offences;
• A national awareness campaign with a particular emphasis on reaching minority and harder-to-reach communities, including translating posters and leaflets into other languages commonly spoken among Ireland’s immigrant communities, to raise awareness of rights under the Victims of Crime Act;
• A national campaign on the importance of consent in healthy sexual relationships; and
• The establishment of a Victim’s Forum for state, social and community groups to discuss how best we can work together to meet the needs of victims.

• Ensuring anonymity for victims in all trials for sexual offences;
• Extending the victim’s right to separate legal representation if they are being questioned about their previous sexual history;
• Ensuring character evidence at a sentencing hearing for a person convicted of a sexual offence must be made on oath or via affidavit;
• Ensuring people subject to military law who commit specified sexual offences will be dealt with by An Garda Síochána and the civilian courts rather than by courts-martial;
• Putting the new National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for human trafficking victims on a statutory footing; and
• Clearing the final obstacles to ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.