Oireachtas

Every time ‘men see or hear misogynistic behaviour or talk, we need to call it out’ - Simon Harris

NTA as taxi regulator needs to ‘wake up’ and review all drivers after driver who raped two women found to have had previous sexual assault convictions

Louth TD Ged Nash told a story in the Dáil of a woman being kicked out of her home, and party leader Ivana Bacik called for a review of the practice of suspended sentences for gender-based violence and for increased urgency in the development of the sentencing guidelines. Photograph: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins Photo Agency

Marie O'Halloran
Wed Jul 3 2024 - 16:53

The National Transport Authority (NTA) needs to “wake up” and review all its taxi drivers following revelations that a driver who raped two women had previous convictions for sexual assault.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns referred to the case of taxi driver Raymond Shorten who was convicted of the rape of two young women who had taken his taxi.

Speaking in the Dáil during one of two debates on gender-based violence on Wednesday, Ms Cairns asked “why is anyone with a record of sexual violence allowed to have a taxi licence, to pick up people alone and get their home address?”

The NTA as taxi regulator “needs to wake up and do an immediate review of its drivers to ensure the safety of people who step into those cars”, she said.

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Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said legislation would be enacted before the summer recess to further protect victims of sexual crime. These “include ensuring anonymity for victims in all trials for sexual offences and extending the victim’s right to separate legal representation.

“There will be changes around character references,” and she is working on addressing “other key issues of concern for victims, including counsellor notes and issues of consent”.

Opening the debate, Taoiseach Simon Harris said “it is incumbent on men to take leadership positions and not allow the worst of us to speak for the rest of us” on gender-based violence.

“Every time we see or hear misogynistic behaviour or commentary, we need to call it out. Do not stay silent. Silence can be perceived as agreement.”

In the earlier debate on gender violence, Labour TD Ged Nash said there is an “absolute responsibility on all of us as men to call this out - that sexism and misogyny is unacceptable in any format and in any circumstances”.

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik called for a review of the practice of suspended sentences and the criteria used for applying them. She also urged increased urgency in the development of sentencing guidelines by the Judicial Council, which was established in 2019, and clear guidelines on the use of character references.

Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully said that in certain parts of the country when a woman goes to the family law courts seeking an extension of a barring order and finds out that a certain judge is sitting, “they don’t bother, because the judge always sides with the man”.

She said she had been contacted by women whose “violent former partners are frequently granted unsupervised access to children. And mothers have told me that their children are crying. They’re begging not to be sent on visits with the father. But if the mother does not send the child, they are the ones being found in contravention of a court order.”

Marie O'Halloran

Marie O'Halloran

Marie O'Halloran is Parliamentary Correspondent of The Irish Times

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