Ivana Bacik

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Spokesperson for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Thursday 3rd June 2010

BACIK WELCOMES REGULATION OF AUCTIONEERS AND PROPERTY SERVICES

Speaking today in the Seanad during the Report stage of the Property Services (Regulation) Bill, Senator Ivana Bacik welcomed the passage of the Bill, saying:

“This long overdue Bill will finally provide necessary protections for consumers by creating a proper legal framework for the largely unregulated area of property services. In particular, it will ensure certain minimum standards of scrutiny and accountability are applied to those engaged in the provision of property services, like auctioneers and estate agents.”

Welcoming the Minister’s acceptance of a key amendment put down by the Labour Party at Report stage, Senator Bacik also said:

“The Labour amendment to section 10 will ensure that no more than three members of the 11-member Property Services Regulatory Authority can be drawn from the ranks of estate agents and auctioneers. This important amendment, which the Minister has today accepted, will significantly strengthen the independence of the Authority and will greatly increase the level of protection for consumers offered by this legislation.

However, I am sorry that the Minister did not accept another key amendment that I proposed, to ensure that at least three representatives of consumer interests would be included on the Authority. I hope that he will consider including this change to the bill when it gets to the Dail.”

ENDS

SENATOR BACIK CALLS VOTE ON CLIMATE CHANGE BILL

Senator Ivana Bacik

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform

2nd June 2010

Senator Ivana Bacik today called a vote on the Order of Business in the Seanad, seeking an urgent debate on climate change legislation.

Speaking on the Order of Business, Senator Bacik said:

“With all the other major international and national news this week, one critical event has been overlooked – the opening of UN climate change talks in Bonn to try and secure new agreement on emissions reduction targets worldwide.”

“Here in Ireland, the Government has promised to introduce climate change legislation setting binding emissions reduction targets in June. However I introduced a Bill on this issue back in October 2007. It is still awaiting further debate before the Seanad. Given that Stop Climate Chaos and Friends of the Earth are mounting a major lobby of Oireachtas members today, I think it would be appropriate to have a debate on this legislation today. We need to hear a firm commitment from the Government as to the timescale for introduction and implementation of their Bill.”

ENDS

SENATOR BACIK HOSTS OIREACHTAS BRIEFING ON ‘LIFE AFTER PRISON’
Senator Ivana Bacik 

 Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice

Senator Ivana Bacik today hosted a briefing seminar for TDs and Senators on ‘life after prison’. Facilitated by the Irish Penal Reform Trust, the meeting was held at 11.30am in Leinster House. Speakers were Tina Roche and Lisa Cuthbert.

Tina Roche was appointed Chief Executive of The Foundation for Investing in Communities in January 2000 and established two organisations Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI). She was involved in the NESF Project Team on the Reintegration of Prisoners, which led the NESF report on the topic in 2002. She addressed the seminar on the issue of re-integration of prisoners in the workplace.

Lisa Cuthbert has been Director of PACE for the past ten years and has worked with offenders and within the homeless sector for twenty years. PACE is the largest voluntary organisation in Ireland working exclusively with offenders and ex-offenders. She spoke about the practical issues facing those coping with life after prison and the measures which can be taken to ease the transition between prison and release.

Speaking at the seminar, Senator Bacik said:

“This seminar is the latest in a series of briefings for TDs and Senators on prisons and penal reform that I have hosted in conjunction with the Irish Penal Reform Trust. There is immense interest in the issue of penal reform among members of the Oireachtas, and I am now proposing to establish an All-Party Working Group on Penal Reform in order to formalise the important connections that have been made during our series of briefing seminars. We hope to place prison conditions and penal reform higher up the political agenda, and to initiate a series of reforms to our penal system.”

ENDS                          

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
21st April 2010

BACIK LAUNCHES MINCEIRS WHIDEN MANIFESTO

Senator Ivana Bacik today launched a policy document produced by Minceirs Whiden, a Traveller forum established in 2004 by a group of Travellers to promote an understanding and recognition of Travellers as a minority ethnic group in Irish society.

Speaking at the launch event in Buswells Hotel, Senator Bacik said:

 “This document puts Travellers’ ethnicity at the centre of any policy formation. Recognition of Travellers as a distinct group is vital. Travellers’ distinct identity has been recognised at European and International level, but as yet the Irish Government has not taken a strong position of recognition of the ethnicity of Travellers, and it needs to do so.

“As well as emphasising the importance of Travellers’ ethnicity, the document calls on the Traveller community to embrace diversity. It recognises that differences exist among Travellers based on gender, age, sexuality and disability. This is very important, and I think this is a brave document as it tackles many other issues that are not often spoken about publicly – domestic violence, conflict within Traveller communities and drug abuse. I am honoured to launch the document.”

ENDS.

STATEMENT BY IVANA BACIK

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Tuesday, 23rd March 2010

JOBS FOR THE PEOPLE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ‘JOBS FOR THE BOYS’

Speaking today on the Order of Business in the Seanad, Senator Bacik called for an urgent debate on unemployment and job creation, pointing out that:

“With all the political focus on the Cabinet reshuffle and the ‘jobs for the boys’ (and one girl!) in the Green Party, we need to remember that the real issue in Ireland today is jobs for the people. As many thousands face job losses and uncertainty about their continued future employment, generating new ideas and practical solutions to ensure job creation would be far more useful than discussion of Cabinet appointments.

“The minimal changes introduced by the Taoiseach in this reshuffle are more like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, than they are about generating the kind of new thinking and practical policies that might actually help the thousands of people on the Dole and contemplating emigration.”

ENDS

Speaking today in the Seanad on the Committee stage of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Bill 2009, Senator Ivana Bacik proposed an amendment to the Bill that would require the Minister for Justice to publish a five-year anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing strategy illustrating how the objects of the Act are to be pursued. 

Speaking about the issue, Senator Bacik said 

"We are all in agreement with the objectives of this Bill, and with the urgent need to develop effective measures to deal with money laundering, terrorist financing and white collar crime generally. The idea of requiring the Minister to develop a five-year strategy on how this will be done in practice is borrowed from the British legislation.” 

Although the Minister did not accept the amendment, Senator Bacik asked him to review the position again before Report Stage, pointing out that such a strategy: 

“ would provide a useful incentive to us to develop an effective multi-agency and cross-departmental approach to such crime. This is not just a matter for the Gardai and Revenue Commissioners, but also for the Financial Regulator, the Director of Corporate Enforcement and other bodies charged with regulating the financial sector. We have seen only too clearly how the failure to regulate the banks has damaged our economy. We must ensure that in the future measures adopted to combat fraud, money laundering and white collar crime are more effective in practice.” 

ENDS. 

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Wednesday 10th  March 2010

BACIK CALLS FOR DEBATE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSE TO MURPHY REPORT

Speaking today in the Seanad, Senator Ivana Bacik called for a debate to take place on the response of the criminal justice system to the revelations in the Murphy Report (the report of the Commission enquiring into clerical child sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese).

Speaking about the issue, Senator Bacik said

"This debate is necessary following the broadcast of last night’s BBC Newsnight programme, which focused upon a man named in the Murphy Report as one of the most serious serial sexual abusers investigated by the Commission. This man, Bill Carney, has for the past ten years been running a family-friendly guesthouse in St. Andrews, Scotland. This is despite the fact that he was convicted of sex abuse offences in Dublin in 1983 and defrocked by the Catholic Church in 1992. The Murphy report stated that allegations or complaints of child sexual abuse have been made against Bill Carney by over 30 individuals. One young man, Paul Dwyer, was named in the BBC report as having very tragically committed suicide after being informed that no prosecution would be taken against Bill Carney in respect of his complaint.”

Senator Bacik continued that:

“Despite all this, no action appears to have been taken against Bill Carney by the Irish authorities to date on foot of the complaints against him. The Dublin Archdiocese said they did not know Bill Carney’s address, yet the BBC Newsnight team were able to locate him very easily, and it is clear the Irish authorities had his address as an Irish passport was recently issued to him. Minister Dermot Ahern has said in response to the Murphy Report that the full powers of the criminal law would be applied to child sex abusers, yet nothing has been done about Bill Carney."

ENDS.

BACIK CALLS FOR RIGHT TO PATERNITY LEAVE FOR MEN
Senator Ivana Bacik 
 

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
8th March 2010

Speaking today at a Dublin Book Festival event on the subject ‘Legacies of Feminism’, Senator Ivana Bacik will call for a change in the law to enable male employees to take paid paternity leave.

Outlining the many ways in which women continue to face discrimination, in the law, the workplace and in society generally, Senator Bacik noted that because of the gender pay-gap - the disparity in earnings between men and women - it usually costs more for a father to give up work to care for a child. Even though a right to unpaid parental leave exists for both parents, men are much less likely to take this leave.

Calling for a change in the law, Senator Bacik said:

“The State must give fathers recognition in the workplace – by legislating for the right to take even a few weeks’ paid paternity leave. It is most unfair on men, women and children that the parenting responsibilities of fathers specifically are not given any legal acknowledgement in their employment. In practice, men have to take holiday leave or unpaid leave if they wish to be at home for the birth of their child or to help their partner in the weeks after the birth. Paid paternity leave must be introduced here, as it has been in Britain, to reflect the reality that mothers do not have sole responsibility for parenting. In my view, support for paid paternity leave must be an integral part of any feminist agenda.”

ENDS    

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice

Monday, 07 December 2009

LOW RAPE CONVICTION RATES HIGHLIGHT NEED FOR ACTION

The appallingly low conviction rate for rape cases in Ireland, as pointed out in the report published today by the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, is a clear indication rape victims are being failed by the system.

According to today’s report, just seven per cent of reported cases result in a conviction, but we already know that as few as 20 per cent of cases are actually brought to the attention of an Garda Siochana, so the picture is even worse than it appears.

The report suggest that the quality of social and official support made available to victims is a significant determining factor in whether a case progresses, and I would fully concur with that.

The story of victims being given the impression by officialdom that they are not believed, or that the attack they have suffered, somehow does not warrant a detailed investigation, are all to familiar. So too are stories of victims feeling that it is THEY who are on trial, and not the assailant. In this kind of environment, it is hardly surprising that the women themselves are reluctant to enter into a legal process that could drag on over a long period and where the chances of them securing a conviction appear to be remote.

This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, if the integrity of our legal system is to have any meaning.

Labour believes that women must have access to frontline services dedicated to the support of victims of rape and sexual assault; that we need sexual assault treatment services provided on a national basis; and that there should be significant improvements in Garda training for dealing with these cases.

We also believe that complainants should be entitled to free, full separate legal advice assistance and representation in any proceedings.

ENDS

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Senator for Dublin UniversityPanel

Thursday 29^th October 2009

SENATOR BACIK CALLS FOR URGENT DEBATE

ON COMMISSIONS OF INVESTIGATION

Speaking in the Seanad today, Senator Ivana Bacik called for an urgent debate on the operation of section 38 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. She said this was urgent in the context of the delayed publication of the report of the Commission of Investigation into child sex abuse allegations in the Dublin Archdiocese.

Noting that the Dublin Archdiocese Commission is investigating the response of both Church and State authorities to the allegations of abuse, she said:

“The Minister has sought directions from the High Court under section 38 of the Act. The High Court has already ordered the deletion of one chapter of the report, and further directions are now being sought from the Court. I am very concerned about the lack of fairness in the procedures under section 38. The hearing is in private, with no media present. The only persons represented are the State authorities – in this case, themselves under investigation - and any defendants in relevant criminal proceedings, ie alleged abusers.”

Senator Bacik said that the unfortunate effect of section 38 could be that reports from commissions of investigation might be neutered before they could be published:

“Section 38 does not give any right to be heard, for example, to the survivors or victims of abuse, or the Commission itself. Yet the effect of the section could be to compromise the reports of commissions of investigation, by ensuring that they are neutered before they are published. There is a clear public interest in reviewing the operation of section 38, to ensure greater rights to representation and greater transparency in the process.”

ENDS