Introduction

Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to be able to visit you within a month of being appointed Minister for Justice and Law Reform and Minister for Defence. Your invitation enables me to affirm, unequivocally, my own commitment and that of the Government to victims of crime.

Legislation

My commitment to the rights of the victims of crime is real. In opposition I produced the Victims’ Rights Bill of 2002, which the then Government declined to support. Upon my return to Dáil Éireann in 2007 - after an involuntary absence - I published the Victims Rights Bill of 2008 which unfortunately the previous Government opposed and voted down.

Happily, there has been dramatic political change. And a signpost to positive reform in this area is this: The first commitment in the Justice and Law Reform section of the Programme for Government, 2011-2016 is for legislation to strengthen the rights of victims of crime and their families.

The victims of crime and their families must no longer be silent partners in the criminal process. It flies in the face of justice to shut victims of crime out of the very process that is designed to address the wrongs they have suffered. Giving victims a real voice in the criminal process is vital because it contributes to dignity, self-esteem and the potential for moving on with one’s life. I realise that the Criminal Procedure Act 2010, section 4, requires the courts to have regard to the effects on victims of various offences, including sexual offences, violent offences, coercion, harassment, abduction, and false imprisonment. But I intend to produce legislation that enables the courts to have regard to the impact on victims and their families of a wider range of offences, including burglary, theft, road traffic offences that cause serious injury and offences resulting from anti-social behaviour that substantially disrupt peoples lives.

The proposed legislation can do much to ensure that victims and their needs are more at the heart of the justice process. I know that it is not possible for the law to undo the hurt, violation and loss that the criminal inflicts on his or her victim. But even if the law cannot wipe the slate clean, it can help to reduce the amount of secondary victimisation. The Bill will seek to ensure that the victim who is traumatised by the original crime will not experience significant additional pain because of the perceived indifference and blindness of the system.

Statutory rights to information will be a key element of the new legislation. Information is power. In the case of victims of crime, it is clear to me that lack of information about how the criminal process works and about a particular case, can aggravate the powerlessness felt by victims and their families.

I will remedy this by requiring criminal justice agencies by law to give relevant information to victims of crime in a timely fashion. This will reinforce the existing good practice in parts of the criminal justice system and support its extension to the remaining parts.

I have instructed my officials in the Criminal Law Division and in the Victims of Crime Office in the Department of Justice and Law Reform to work closely together to produce heads of a Bill as soon as possible.

In the three short years since I produced my own Bill, the scene has changed. An EU Directive on human trafficking and another EU Directive on the sexual exploitation of children are close to adoption. Both Directives contain a number of articles in relation to the treatment of victims. I understand that the EU Commission also has plans to publish a draft proposal for a Directive on the standing of victims of crime in criminal proceedings before the summer. Any such opt-in is subject to Government approval and must also be scrutinised by the Oireachtas. I hope that Ireland will be able to opt-in to the proposed new Directive. We must grasp the chance to play a constructive part in refining and improving the proposal through negotiations in the appropriate working group of the Council of Ministers in Brussels.

Here in Ireland the revised Victims Charter and Guide to the Criminal Justice System was issued in July of last year. These legal and administrative arrangements will all help to shape the Irish Victims Bill. But the Bill will give rights with real teeth.

The enacting of a Victims Bill is bound to have significance for the status of the victims of crime. The criminal justice system operates according to the law. If the concerns of victims are formally addressed in law, then those concerns will take on an enhanced importance in the eyes of criminal justice officers, be they police, court officials, or prison officials. Lawyers will also have more reason to be responsive to victims’ concerns. Statutory changes can change the insights and practice of people and of institutions. Changes in practice, sustained over a period of time, can in turn lead to a change in societal attitudes and perceptions.

Improving service

Now I am interested in far more than symbolic gestures. I want this legislation to bring about real benefits to victims of crime in their interactions with criminal justice agencies. Legislation will not bring about such change on its own. Nor can we realistically expect legislation to be prepared and enacted instantly.

Therefore, I would like to see the criminal justice agencies continuing to improve their service to victims of crime. One tool for ensuring that improvements occur is for the organisations concerned to carefully measure and monitor what they are currently doing. Performance must be oriented to meeting the standards of best practice. Criminal justice agencies can see where they are winning, through using best practice, and can also see where there is a need for improvements in performance. I intend to write to the leaders of the criminal justice agencies and ask them to commit themselves to monitoring their own agencies’ engagement with victims of crime, in the light of best-practice standards, as one way for improving service to such victims. Not only will this improve service to victims in the short term, but the fresh culture of respect and concern for the victims of crime will also facilitate implementation of the victims’ legislation when it is enacted.

Voluntary sector organisations

The role of organisations such as those you represent here today in providing emotional support, practical assistance, advice and information is very important also. More than 12,000 victims were helped in 25,000 contacts in 2010, supported by Commission funding.

I understand that you represent more than forty organisations, drawing on more than 400 volunteers and also employing salaried staff to deliver services to victims of crime. Both volunteers and staff I believe are fired with a really genuine, passionate and humane commitment to assist victims of crime regain independence.

I know that you are operating in a difficult environment with some categories of victimisation increasing because of our current economic situation. At the same time you are all working with limited resources. I know that some of you have already seen funding cuts from the HSE in the last few years. In addition I am told that fund-raising efforts are producing less. In my own Department there are major funding pressures as a consequence of our economic and fiscal emergency and the obligations we must meet to reduce our enormous current budget deficit under the agreement concluded by the previous Government with the E.U. and IMF. As a State we are this year spending an estimated nineteen billion euros in excess of the State’s income and we all know that this can not continue. As Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence I am obliged to reduce my Departments annual expenditure and I hope that you will understand, therefore, that it is impossible to provide immunity to any group or organisations from funding cuts during my term of office. But I want to assure you all that I will do what is possible within the current financial constraints to make available required resources to provide assistance to victims. In this context I think it is also important to ask that each of the groups and organisations present consider carefully what measures might be implemented to reduce costs by enhanced cooperation and the sharing of administrative expenditure, paid staff and premises.

The aim today is to share good practice and explore how cooperation between organisations can be improved. This is an imperative task that the times we are in makes even more demanding. And it does demand more work of you. The essential focus is clear, however: it is your work for and with victims. Yes victims are your clients; they are in a real sense the reason you are funded. But the focus today is on you as servants of the clients and sharing experiences and insights so that everyone involved can have a chance to enhance their effectiveness in that role. Day in and day out, your staff and volunteers provide a service to victims of crime. What is different and important is that today you have this discussion with each other.

I commend the moral and civic commitment of everyone here present in taking part in these discussions today. I would encourage you to grasp together whatever nettles need grasping. I know there are no instant, cure-all solutions. But in this room you have the capacity to make progress in improving understanding, cooperation and sharing of good practice between all of you in your commitment to victims and in advancing action necessary to address the concerns and needs in an effective way.

I know that you have had conversations on what the criminal justice agencies can do to improve the lot of victims. The Consultative Forum in September was one such occasion when you looked at the implementation of the Victims Charter. Be assured that I will be open on another occasion to hearing the results of some of your other conversations.

Today’s conversation is about improving your own service delivery to victims of crime. I look forward to seeing the impact on the ground of your work together here today. I also hope that in constructive discussion you succeed in identifying changes that can be introduced that are cost effective, which not only do not diminish the service available to victims but lay the foundation for enhanced services.

I have had the pleasure in the past of meeting with many of the organisations represented this morning. And I see many familiar faces who engaged with me in a consultative process on the Victims Rights Bill 2008. In the context of the new Bill to be published under the Programme for Government I sincerely invite each of the organisations here within the next three months to furnish to my Department your considered written submissions relating to the content of this Bill.

I wish you all well with today’s important work. Thank you.