Patrick Costello
Ceist:397. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice when the public consultation on the disregarding of historical offences for the LGBT community will take place. [46873/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 27 September 2022
Ceisteanna (397)
Freagraí scríofa
As the Deputy may be aware, I published a progress report from the Working Group to Examine the Disregard of Convictions for Certain Qualifying Offences Related to Consensual Sexual Activity between Men on Thursday, 5 May.
The Victorian-era laws which were repealed by the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 caused immeasurable harm to generations of gay and bisexual men, criminalising and stigmatizing them simply because of their sexual orientation.
I am conscious that nearly 30 years later, the damage that was caused by these laws continues to impact negatively on too many people’s lives. While this harm can never be fully undone, I am strongly committed to bringing to Government and publishing a scheme to disregard convictions for qualifying offences prior to decriminalisation in 1993.
The purpose of the proposed public consultation is to allow representative organisations and affected people to provide input, based on their lived experience, on a number of key issues identified by the Working Group as requiring further input from affected communities, which will inform the Group’s final deliberations, and ensure more effective policy-making and implementation.
Since the publication of the Progress Report in May, work has been ongoing to progress the development of resources to enable an effective and accessible public consultation.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the public consultation will be launched in the coming weeks.