I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, to the House. Before we begin the debate, I welcome to the Public Gallery guests of Deputy Nolan from County Offaly. It gives me great pleasure to welcome one of my oldest and dearest friends from Cork, now living in Massachusetts, Dermot Luddy, and his family - Daniel and Aidan Luddy and Morgan and Michaela Gunning. They are here on a visit. They are very welcome to Leinster House. I hope they have a good visit to Dublin. I know they are heading back to the States tomorrow, so I thank them for being here today.
Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage
SECTION 1
Question proposed: "That section 1 stand part of the Bill."
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for coming to the House. I welcome my Young Fine Gael colleagues who are in the Gallery today, who are co-sponsors of the Bill.
Despite the fact that we are only talking about section 1 today, I am grateful that we are progressing the Bill. I acknowledge that the Minister wishes to consult with the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and the Garda Commissioner on the Bill. I hope to have these requests back before we come back in September because I am very keen to do the final parts of Committee Stage and Report Stage so that the Minister can then bring the Bill to the Dáil.
The part of the Bill that we are speaking about today is the definitions. I have nothing to say about most of the definitions because they are not to be amended, with the exception of one with regard to "sedating". It is not an amendment to the definition, it is just that since we last spoke about the Bill here a number of weeks ago, it has been brought to our attention that the spiking of vapes is now a thing, which is not something I had ever heard about before, in particular when we were drafting the Bill. Now people have the ability, if they have a malign intention, to spike something through injection, putting something in a drink and putting something in a vape. I do not know where this is going to begin or end, but I certainly know we need this stand-alone offence on the Statute Book as quickly as possible. I take this opportunity to thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for giving of his time here today.
I thank the Senator for bringing forward this Bill and speaking on it this afternoon. It is a very important issue. The contributions have been quite interesting and enlightening. I know there has been a general discussion on this Bill. The Minister, Deputy Harris, spoke on the Bill on Second Stage and he noted that observations are being sought from An Garda Síochána and the DPP and that engagement is ongoing. However, the situation is extremely worrying for people. Setting out to spike a drink is an horrific thing for anybody to do. Spiking is a very serious situation that needs to be viewed in that way. It can have very long-lasting effects.
I commend Senator Doherty on bringing forward this very important Bill and for giving us the opportunity to consider this very serious situation. Spiking victims often describe experiencing feelings of embarrassment, shame and loss of confidence and trauma when of course, they should not experience any of those things but that is the nature of these types of occurrences. It is horrific that anybody could head out to do something like this. It is a timely conversation. As has been noted, reports of spiking incidences has increased not only in Ireland but in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. We are very concerned to come up with the most appropriate way to address this very challenging situation.
Question put and agreed to.
Progress reported; Committee to sit again.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 3.08 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 4.35 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 3.08 p.m. and resumed at 4.35 p.m.