Following the murder of Ashling Murphy, the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee vowed to enact legislative and cultural change in order to combat gender-based violence.
In the Dáil, she stated the issue cannot be treated merely as a criminal justice and thus cannot be tackled solely through legislation. Men should not be allowed to cultivate ill attitudes towards women to such an extent that they end up in the criminal justice system.
The Minister declared she is developing the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, with a zero-tolerance goals. Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Policy Considerations are the four pillars of the strategy.
Prevention would involve changing unsafe attitudes by eliminating the “bystander stance” and easy access to pornography, and by offering educational programmes on healthy relationships, gender equality and consent.
Protection of victims after reporting comes in the form of ensuring refuge spaces are available when needed, supporting women who choose to live at home, and through dignified treatment of the victims by the criminal justice system.
In the area of prosecution, the Minister announced the introduction of new legislation to ensure that the Gardai are adequately equipped to investigate crimes and that perpetrators are fully punished. The Garda Powers Bill is meant to provide a clear statutory basis for the police powers of search, arrest, and detention, while the Digital Records Bill would offer support in the area of investigation technology.
A Bill that will be published before Easter includes new criminal offences for stalking and for non-fatal strangulation. Stalking will be referred to as a criminal offence, will include watching or following the victim even when the victim is unaware that it is being stalked and will ensure that legislation covers all types of modern communication. Essentially, the Bill would bring more clarity to the already existing legislation, thus making it more easily enforceable.
A new Sexual Offences Bill will extend victim anonymity to new categories of victim, will repeal publicly delivered sentences and will make further changes to legal representation afforded to victims. The Minister also stated that the Sex Offenders Bill will be enacted soon, in order to better monitor and manage sex offenders, and that she will sign into operation statute that institutes pre-trial hearings, meant to ameliorate trials for victims of sexual offences.