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.

Order of Business

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.

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: Given that today is International Day against Torture, will the Leader facilitate a debate in the House on the use of extraordinary rendition and the role of Shannon Airport in this appalling practice? Amnesty International is holding a special event today in Buswells Hotel, to which colleagues would all have been invited, at which a number of Irish actors will be reading from a book entitled “Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak”, which contains poems written by inmates in Guantanamo Bay. This is an important event that will highlight the practice of extraordinary rendition. Amnesty International is calling on Senators and Deputies to participate in the formation of an interparliamentary group on rendition that would take up the issue and lobby government.

It is appropriate to debate this issue given that we heard this morning that the US Department of Homeland Security has, in an extraordinary move, requested permission to have a base at Shannon Airport for compiling data on persons on Irish private airplanes in the jurisdiction of Ireland. It is requesting unprecedented access and we should not give it. It is important that we debate this matter before the recess.

The Amnesty International event is at 11.30 a.m. in Buswells Hotel. On the way there, colleagues might consider dropping in to another event, which is being hosted by the All Party Oireachtas Interest Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Population and Development. The event deals with population, reproductive health, environment and the millennium develop goals. It is an important event at which experts will be present to brief colleagues on the links between population growth and the fulfilment of the millennium develop goals. I would like a debate on this, if not before the recess, certainly early in the autumn. Irish development aid has an important role to play in the achievement of the millennium development goals worldwide. We need to consider the issue of population growth very seriously and determine how best we can meet the goals and facilitate reproductive rights in the developing world, particularly those of women.

Order of Business 

Senator Ivana Bacik: I am not sure whether there can be a bit of a credit crunch. It is like a bit of an earthquake. Either there is a credit crunch or there is not.

Will the Deputy Leader arrange a debate on criminal justice in light of the three shootings in Dublin in the past 24 hours? Shockingly, one of those shootings took place at 1 p.m. yesterday in Drimnagh and one took place last night very close to where I live in the Coombe area of Dublin, the south inner city. We all should be deeply concerned about this. What we have learned from past experience is that knee-jerk reactions in terms of mandatory sentences for firearms offences, etc. do not have the desired effect of preventing these appalling shootings. We need a more measured debate on alternative responses to severe crimes such as these and more long-term solutions in the criminal justice system.

I have attended the fourth annual North-South criminology conference in the Dublin Institute of Technology over the past two days at which very measured academic presentations were given and which provide useful insights for policy makers on approaches which could be taken in the criminal justice system. These include simple matters such as changing and streamlining the way in which we run our criminal justice statistics gathering system. That is vital and I would like us to debate it.

On a slightly related matter, I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform that he will not abolish early houses. Anyone who has frequented early houses will know they are generally fairly quiet places to which people go for a pint after a night shift. It is important that he has taken on board the recommendations of people who know the system of early houses and who have been able to advise him that there is not a public order issue. That is useful because it shows that knee-jerk responses do not always work. It was a knee-jerk response to real and serious problems arising from alcohol abuse which led to the suggestion that early house licences should be extinguished. The Minister is now taking a more measured approach to this by saying that the existing 50 licences in place will be retained.

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I support my colleagues on this side of the House who have called for a debate on the economy. It is clear we are in recession. We have had enough of the patronising words of those on the other side of the House who suggest we are talking down the economy, and that we should not do so because it is harming the economy. It is clear who has caused the harm. It is interesting that Government speakers are trying to blame the current state of the economy on the international context. They were not slow to take credit for the boom years. When we had the boom, they did not point out that it had an international context. It is clear the Government has blown the boom, as other Senators have said.

I would like to be constructive, as the Minister for Finance asked us to be in his moment of self-pity last week. I suggest we should have a debate on what to do about this problem. Are there obvious ways in which the Minister for Finance could save the Exchequer money? As others have mentioned, an obvious way to do that would be to reverse the roll-out of the decentralisation programme. The programme, which has run into the sand, in effect, is costing the Exchequer a large amount of money without any discernible benefit. 

Perhaps we should examine crime policy as an area in which money could be saved. That is especially relevant this week, as we debate the enormous super-prison site in Thornton Hall in north Dublin. We have seen the move in recent years from a due process model of criminal justice to a crime control model. That costs a considerable amount of money and the benefits to us, and to victims of crime, are minimal and have yet to be proven empirically.

We can look at ways of saving money and improving the economic situation but I do not think we need to hear either whingeing from the Minister for Finance or pomposity and patronising from the Government on this.

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: Since everyone has been mentioning the Lisbon treaty this morning, with Senators on the Independent benches coming out of the closet to indicate the way they shall be voting, I declare that I shall be voting “Yes” . I note with concern, however, that a commentator remarked in the newspapers last week how few prominent women were coming out on the “Yes” side. This is yet another indictment of the very poor pro-treaty campaign being run by the Government. The strongest arguments in favour of the “Yes” position have come from the Opposition. The Government needs to be doing much more in the last few days of the campaign, in particular, putting women forward to argue for the “Yes” side, because they comprise a large group of undecided voters at this point.

Senator de Búrca commented on the odds in favour of the “No” side. I notice one punter placed a bet of €10,000 on the “No” side to win, so let us just hope he or she got it wrong. We do not know whether it was a sterling bet, of course.

The arguments in favour of the Lisbon treaty are very strong, from a feminist perspective, particularly because of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and also because of what the European Union has done to date in terms of promoting gender equality. That is very important and needs to be put on the record. However, it is also important to stress that the treaty will facilitate further expansion of the EU eastwards. That is something all of us should very much support and be in favour of. It is another reason for supporting the treaty, although I was slightly hesitant in declaring all this because I backed Hilary Clinton and it has been proven this week to be the wrong course, so perhaps I shall not be putting any bets.

On a more serious note I want to ask the Leader for a debate on No. 21 on the Order Paper, a motion which I have table dealing with the issue of genital mutilation. A report has been published by the Women’s Health Council of Ireland calling for legislation. It is a literature review which is examining this issue and which is particularly serious for women in developing countries. It is becoming increasingly serious in Europe for women who come here from other countries. Female genital mutilation, or cutting, is a brutal practice, which needs to be outlawed and specifically criminalised, even in European countries. I have been active on a campaign to do that. I have a motion on it before the House and the women’s health council is again saying that specific legislation is a necessary, although insufficient element, to counter this barbaric practice in this country.

Justice Committee - Discussion

Senator Ivana Bacik: I thank the Irish Penal Reform Trust for its excellent presentation and echo the remarks of Deputy Rabbitte. Last week in the Seanad the Minister stated a preferred bidder had been selected to construct the development at Thornton Hall which will have capacity for 1,400 prisoners on the new site. However, when referring to the big issue, he indicated that, in fact, it would have potential capacity for 2,200. In response to a question from me he also stated prisoners might be obliged to double up in cells. Will the delegation elaborate on what we can do as a committee about this?