When is it proposed to take Report Stage?
Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Sections 2 and 3 agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Bill received for final consideration.
When is it proposed to take Fifth Stage?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I thank the Acting Chairperson for the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I thank my colleagues in the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party and the Fine Gael Seanad group for tabling this legislation and for working so proactively on it. I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss it as I did not have the opportunity previously.
The Bill stems from an initiative by Young Fine Gael. I acknowledge those of its members who are here and their colleagues who have worked on this and I thank them for all of their work in bringing this issue to the fore, for speaking out and for driving this campaign for change. A great deal of effort has gone into developing the legislation. While spiking is a crime that can impact anybody, it is a particular danger and concern for young people in social environments. It is important that this generation be given a voice and that it has an opportunity to put forwards its views, its concerns and, most importantly, its ideas as to how the issues affecting it can be addressed. I thank them for all of their work.
Throughout these debates, we have returned time and time again to the fact that spiking is a heinous act that can have a very detrimental impact and devastating and lasting effects on victims. Even where it does not facilitate a further offence, it can have a lasting effect on a victim's physical and mental health and emotional well-being. Spiking victims describe feeling embarrassed, ashamed and fearful and suffering from a loss of confidence. These have significant repercussions on people's lives. We can also see things go even further. I have engaged with people whose families have also suffered highly detrimental implications. It can be very difficult or even impossible for spiking victims to ever again feel comfortable and at ease in social settings after having been subjected to such a traumatic experience. Incidents of spiking also have a real effect on the public at large. They undermine people's confidence in being able to simply enjoy a night out without fear.
As we are here, it is important to say that spiking is a serious crime. Section 12 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 criminalises anyone who intentionally or recklessly administers a substance capable of interfering substantially with another person's bodily functions. This explicitly includes unconsciousness or sleep and would certainly encompass an attempt to stupefy or overpower. It is important to emphasise that, where spiking is used to facilitate a further offence such as a sexual assault, an assault, which carries a ten-year maximum sentence, or a rape, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, these offences may be charged separately in addition to this offence. Other provisions exist that would deal with an attempt to commit such further offences. In addition, the offence of poisoning could be considered an assault causing harm, an offence carrying a sentence of five years. However, I intend to commence relevant provisions of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act to double the sentence for assault causing harm from five years to ten.
In saying all of this and despite the fact that spiking falls under existing legislation, although it is not called that, there is a gap and, from speaking to Young Fine Gael members and the younger people I meet in universities in different environments across the country, I know that young people are not coming forward. They are not sure what they should do, whether the law will be on their side and what the best steps for them are. That, in itself, means there is a gap we need to fill and that we need to do more. I look forward to this Bill's enactment. The fact that it has passed is wonderful.
Senators will be aware from previous debates that we had sought advice from An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Since then, we have received detailed observations from those bodies and there is ongoing engagement there. We have gone to Forensic Science Ireland with a view to gaining further insight into practical issues around evidence gathering. We have heard some useful points and constructive information that will enable us to progress this Bill further. Again, I look forward to engaging with colleagues here and with Young Fine Gael to make sure we can progress it in that way.
To my previous point, it is clear that the issues in challenging and tackling this crime are not solely of a legislative nature. That is why, in December 2021, the Minister, Deputy Harris, and I launched an awareness campaign to combat spiking in collaboration with the Union of Students in Ireland. This included information on how to tell if a drink had been spiked, acknowledging that most drugs used in this manner are tasteless, colourless and odourless while highlighting the possible signs in a person's behaviour or body language and the steps to take if it is suspected that spiking has occurred. Campaigns like this send a very clear message that it is not acceptable to spike a person for any reason but there is a great deal more that we need to do in this regard. We see work in the area of consent being actively rolled out in all universities. It is almost mandatory that students engage on that issue. This is the space we need to be in when it comes to spiking. Students should be aware of the dangers, where they can access help and the proper route to take if something like this happens. We need to make sure supports are available for people, whether the victims' helpline, rape crisis centres, sexual assault treatment units or others. We need to make sure there are supports for individuals who become victims of spiking.
There is more we need to do and a lot that needs to be done but I welcome this Bill's passage today and I acknowledge the significant work that has gone into it. I again note the engagement with An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Collectively, all of this will be very helpful in moving forward on this matter. I intend to do that to make sure that we have as strong a legislative footing as possible to deter this crime and, when it does happen, to make sure that people know they have recourse and that those responsible will be brought to justice.
I thank the Minister. This is as relevant to my party as it is to the parties of all colleagues. The partnership that exists between Young Fine Gael, members of which are in the Gallery today, and the little bit older Fine Gael that exists in the Seanad has made for an incredible relationship over recent years. This Bill passing is the outcome of the campaign conducted by Young Fine Gael over the past number of months, as is the building of young people's confidence to report these things to An Garda Síochána and university authorities. Young Fine Gael's work has genuinely and significantly contributed to that and I thank its members for the opportunity to work with our youth wing. The culmination of today's work is firmly in their corner. They should take a bow and I thank them.
The experiences the Minister has just described were never as evident as they were during the summer. When we first brought this Bill forward, the State's response was that we did not need separate stand-alone legislation and that there was not as serious a number of crimes as we were indicating. That has come full circle because of the number of people who have come forward, not least of whom is a young lady in my own hometown whose life has been destroyed by the experience she went through. It has also affected her parents, her family and her friends. When the Minister talks about the lack of confidence in being able to engage in normal things, this young lady will have to go through years of counselling to get to a level of normality in her own confidence. When I say that we need a stand-alone offence, notwithstanding the crimes that are currently on the Statute Book, I mean that we need to make the process as easy and transparent as possible for people who are victims of this crime.
When we started off, I was mostly thinking of young women, probably because I have two of them at home, but, after people telling us of their experiences over the summer, I now understand that I also have to be mindful of my two young men at home and mind them because there have been far more instances of young men having their drinks spiked by sexual predators than I imagined heretofore.
With regard to progressing this Bill, am I now to go ahead and seek to introduce this Bill in the Dáil as a Fine Gael colleague's Private Member's Bill or does the Minister intend to include this stand-alone legislation in a miscellaneous provisions Bill? I thank my colleagues for their time, hard work and engagement.
The Minister is welcome back to the House this afternoon. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I compliment the members of Young Fine Gael on their work on this issue. I also commend all Members of this House who fully support this very important legislation. Senator Doherty outlined a specific case in her area. I am sure there are cases throughout the country. Spiking is a horrible, devious and despicable act to carry out on any individual. I am glad to see legislation specifically dealing with the offence. I can understand how young people would be nervous about coming forward. The Minister mentioned the importance of a campaign to create awareness of this offence.
More important, we must show young people who may have been victims of this particular act that there is a pathway for them to come forward, through the Garda and the authorities, and encourage them not to carry this on their own. It is a despicable crime. The only word I can use to describe it is disgusting. I encourage anybody who has been a victim of it to come forward. I think awareness is key. It is important that people know that there is a clear pathway there for them to come forward if they happen to be victims of the crime. The Minister mentioned the ongoing engagement with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Garda. That is very welcome. I agree with Senator Doherty that having a specific offence here is important. I know the Bill has completed its journey in this House. I would like to know what the pathway is from here on in in relation to that. Does the Minister, through her own office, bring in a specific piece of legislation on it? Perhaps that would be the quickest way to get legislation on the Statute Book. I would welcome her comments on that. I thank everybody involved and bualadh bos to the three young people in the Gallery as well. I commend them on their work.
I congratulate the our colleague, the Deputy Leader, Senator Doherty, and the Minister for the very positive approach she has taken to the Bill. I commend our colleagues in the Gallery as well. The world has really changed. It is shocking. Spiking never existed when I was a young person. I have three young adults at home now and I have a party colleague who was a recent victim of spiking, so I know first-hand how horrific it is. This is a very valuable piece of legislation and it can make a real difference. I agree with the last speaker on the importance of promoting this whole area because it is one of such concern. The Minister has Sinn Féin's congratulations and our full support. I am sure she will have the same in the Dáil. I urge the swift passage of this Bill to its full completion.
I welcome the Minister. I concur with all the comments that have been made. I congratulate my colleagues in Young Fine Gael who took on this campaign two years ago and have brought it to a stage where the Bill will be passed in the Seanad. If there was ever a prime example of what young people can do and how they can make changes in our country, this is it. It is an achievement be able to take on an issue like that and drive it with the help of our Deputy Leader, Senator Doherty, whom I also congratulate for taking it on and making sure that it got to the floor of the Seanad. I thank the Minister for her co-operation in seeing the Bill passed here today and I look forward to seeing it swiftly brought into the Dáil. A number of years ago, we discussed the possibility of introducing plastic lids and making them available in nightclubs in response to spiking. I engaged with the Licensed Vintners Association and the Vintners Federation of Ireland on the matter. Perhaps Young Fine Gael will issue the report to both of those organisations because I think there is something that they can do. I know that we now have legislation for offenders, but we need to take more preventative measures. I will give an example. If I go to the canteen today, I can get a lid for a hot drink so that I do not burn my mouth, but if I go to a nightclub, I cannot get a lid. Lids that can be put on drinks should be made available to make them safe for people in a nightclub or wherever it may be. Maybe we can keep the campaign going. I ask that the report and the studies we got from the universities are issued to both of the drinks organisations that represent both the nightclub owners and the bars. We must look at making sure that nearly every nightclub has at least something like that as a preventative measure, so that any person going into a nightclub will be able to put a cover or a lid on their drink to make it safer.
I congratulate our three distinguished visitors in the Gallery for their work on this Bill, because it is so important. I thank Senator Doherty and all those who have worked on it. As Senator Doherty has said, it is an issue for those of us who have children when they go out and socialise at night. We welcome the work that has been done by everyone on this important Bill. Does the Minister wish to comment?
Just to say that the advice that I have received from the Garda, the Director of Public Prosecutions and Forensic Science Ireland is relatively recent, so we still have to go through it. My intention is to meet with colleagues and Young Fine Gael to look at what is the best vehicle or pathway to bring this issue forward. I hope to do it as soon as possible.
Question put and agreed to.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 1.04 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 1.04 p.m. and resumed at 3 p.m.