Ivana Bacik

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I echo the words of other Senators in calling for clarity on the cutbacks proposed by the Government. It is adding insult to injury to suggest serious cutbacks will be made while the House will be in recess for the summer and not tell Members the exact nature of those cutbacks.

 In that context, will the Leader consider a debate on violence against women and children early in the next session. One criminal justice case that received national attention in recent weeks, of which we are all very aware, concerned issues within family relationships. The high profile of the case should not detract from the fact that the majority of cases of domestic violence or violence in intimate or personal relationships are committed against women and children.

Some worthy progress has been made and the Government has established for the first time an agency, Cosc, whose function is to collect national data on domestic violence or violence in intimate relationships. I fear that, in this climate of cutbacks, there will be cutbacks in funding of this agency. Other Senators have referred to the review of agencies that is to be undertaken by the Government. In this regard, I am very concerned that there will be no cutbacks in this area. For far too long, groups such as Women’s Aid and shelters for victims have been starved of resources. Will the Leader consider a debate on violence against women and children, or violence in intimate relationships, early in the next term? The main focus on the debate should be on what can be done about such violence and how we can best ensure resources are well directed in this area. I hope Cosc will survive the cutbacks we expect over the summer.

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Senator Ivana Bacik: I support Senator Regan’s comments about rushing through the Intoxicating Liquor Bill. I agree entirely that it seems most inappropriate to give such a short time in the Seanad to such an important Bill. I do not see what the urgency is. Why can the Deputy Leader not arrange for more time to be given to the debate in the autumn?

 I support Senator Fitzgerald’s call for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to come to the House for a debate on the economy. At a time when we are hearing from the Government about what it calls necessary savings or adjustments but what any sane person would call cutbacks, and in view of the fact that these cutbacks will hurt the most vulnerable, it is important that we have such a debate. I have spoken before in the House about the difficulties faced by staff, particularly HSE front-line staff, who have nobody to replace them when they go on maternity leave or annual leave and are therefore forced to offer reduced or scaled down services to patients and clients. It is appalling, and it is important that we ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to come to the House to deal with this issue.

I also ask the Deputy Leader for resumption of the debate on a Bill I introduced in the House in October, the Climate Protection Bill 2007. It is still on Second Stage and there is time left on this Stage. I have had correspondence from the Deputy Leader in which he made various points about how other things needed to fall into place, but I ask him to ensure that we resume debate on this Bill early in the next session. It is important, for all the reasons expressed when the Bill was first introduced, that rather than dealing with this issue through political promises, we introduce legislation geared at reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change. This week Fianna Fáil Senators put down a back-slapping motion congratulating the Government on how much has been done to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. However, it would be far more practical if we were to pass legislation that sets binding targets, not just for this Government but for future Governments, in tackling climate change.

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik:  I join other Members of the House in welcoming the release of Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages. I pay tribute to the group in Ireland that campaigned for her release for many years and which was represented on “Morning Ireland” this morning. It has done very well and it is with great pride we can say we passed a unanimous motion in this House calling for her release.

I ask the Leader for a debate on child sex offences and offences of sexual abuse against children. I support the call made by Senator Fitzgerald yesterday for this debate. It is a matter of real concern to us all that the Director of Public Prosecutions recently said that he finds it very difficult to prosecute offences of sexual abuse against children. It is a matter of deep concern to us all. The problem is clearly that in the aftermath of the CC case and the Supreme Court’s striking down of previous offences of strict liability, we are left with legislation that clearly is not effective. Even the language in the Act, which refers to offences of sexual defilement of children, is problematic. Senator Alex White said this could be dealt with legislation. It would be nice to see that happen. I would favour and have long called for codifying legislation of the type recommended by the DPP similar to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in the UK which re-enacts absolute liability where an offence of sexual abuse against a child under 13 occurs. The difficulty in Ireland is that I am not convinced that such legislation is possible under the current constitutional framework.

Unfortunately, an amendment may be required to enact effective codifying legislation to cover this. I ask the Leader for a debate in this House.

I welcome the Leader’s announcement that we will have a debate on the economy next week. As the rain comes down and interest rates go up, this is a clear time of gloom for us all on the economy. What is important in any debate, as was said yesterday, is that it be fact-based and that no fictions are spoken of in respect of the economy. It is equally important that we do not engage in hypocrisy. Yesterday, we saw a great deal of hypocrisy from those on the Government side who criticised its handling of the economy and yet presumably will vote with the Government side on any vote on the economy.

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I support the comments of my colleague Senator Norris regarding civil partnership. In particular, like him, I was very disappointed to read of a small rump of Fianna Fáil Senators who are opposing the principle of civil partnership. I hope they will not have any influence on the Government in changing tack on this policy.

I also support those who have spoken about the Oireachtas family day, which I attended on Sunday. It was hugely encouraging to see so many people coming in, enjoying the sunshine and having the Houses of the Oireachtas open to them for the first time. It was a wonderful experience. I am sure I am not the only Member who agrees with what Miriam Lord wrote in yesterday’s The Irish Times, namely, that at a time when we are reading about appalling and horrific events in Zimbabwe and the dreadful distortion of democracy in that country, there is lesson for us all on how important it is that we make our Houses of Parliament accessible to all and that we make sure our democracy works in a transparent and open way. The events on Saturday and Sunday were part of that process.

I should point out that the hot air balloon was not working when I was here on Sunday and a few people commented to the effect that it was the first time there was a shortage of hot air in Leinster House, but we can take such quips on the chin.

I support Senator Fitzgerald’s call for a debate on the economy. I read that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, has described himself as having to make “savings”, not cutbacks but one person’s savings are another person’s cutbacks. As others have said, when HSE frontline staff are being told that they cannot recruit people to replace colleagues on maternity or annual leave, it is time for an urgent debate on the economy.

I also support calls for a debate on human trafficking. I read of Ruhama’s recent figures on trafficking and one issue of particular importance is that the majority of the women that organisation is working with who were trafficked here for sexual purposes last year are living outside Dublin. Although we have legislation in place, we must also have supports in place, particularly for those women in isolated rural areas where organisations like Ruhama cannot provide a service.

Ivana being interviewed by Senator David Norris on Newstalk last Sunday can be accessed here.