Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill - Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality Meeting
28 October 2015
General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill - Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality Meeting
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Last week as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality I attended a meeting to discuss the general scheme of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill. Here is a link to the full transcript from that meeting courtesy of KildareStreet.com https://www.kildarestreet.com/committees/?id=2015-10-21a.237&s=speaker%3A9#g286
I also raised the issue in the Seanad in the Order of Business that afternoon and called for a debate and date as to when the Bill will be introduced to the House - see below.
Sen. Ivana Bacik calls for debate on victims of crime - Order of Business, Seanad Éireann.
'I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on victims of crime. Is there a projected date for the introduction in the House of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill? This morning the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality dealt with the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. During the course of the debate powerful submissions were made by eight NGOs who work with victims of crime. They included the Victims' Rights Alliance, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, the Rape Crisis Network Ireland, the Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, and other groups. In the course of their submissions the NGOs reminded us that this Bill is important because for the first time it provides a statutory framework for the protection of victims' rights in the criminal justice system. It is also a Bill that will implement an EU directive that must be transposed in Ireland by 16 November. The legislation has reached the heads of a Bill stage. The committee is hastening through its pre-legislative scrutiny of the legislation. I wonder can we get it into the Seanad without any undue delay. During the submissions we also heard from Safe Ireland, which released its data on domestic violence this morning which contained some frightening figures. As Safe Ireland pointed out to us, the appalling tragedy where Garda Tony Golden was murdered highlights the serious issue of domestic violence and domestic abuse.'
#DomesticViolence #VictimsOfCrime