Controversial child law to change in May
Legislation on naming young victims will be overturned
A LAW which meant children who were the victims of crime, including murder, could not be named is to be overturned by May 3 at the latest.
The ruling by the Court of Appeal last year had caused pain to many relatives of child murder victims in particular, after they were effectively gagged from speaking about their loved ones.
The ruling had also prevented the media from naming the perpetrators of such crimes, if so doing could lead to the identification of their victims.
Now Justice Minister Helen McEntee has confirmed that the necessary legislation to allow the blanket anonymity to be lifted will pass the final Seanad stage on Monday, before being sent to the President to be signed off.
Speaking on RTÉ news yesterday, she said: ‘I am really pleased to say that by May 3 at the latest, those families that you have mentioned, those who haven’t been able to speak about their children – and it’s been a really difficult time for them – they will be able to once again speak about and remember in the way that they want, their children.’
She continued: ‘I have legislation that has to go to the Seanad, just for final stages on Monday. It will pass it on Monday. I will send it to the President who will have seven days to sign the commencement order but he may do it sooner.
‘And as soon as he does that, I will sign the commencement order to say that seven days later, this will come into effect. So at the very least, this will come into effect by May 3, but it may happen sooner.’
A mother whose two sons were killed by a relative, and who cannot be named today due to the court ruling, said she was happy that the six months’ silence would soon come to an end.
‘I am waiting for it to happen now, to be honest. It is a waiting game at this stage,’ she said.
‘It has been frustrating, but probably less so for me than it is for some. I have had around six years of being able to engage with the media and talk about the boys, and talk about the issues that are there.
‘I consider myself lucky that I have been able to do that. I never let them be forgotten. And I have still been able to use my voice recently, albeit anonymously.’
She noted that several court cases have occurred, or people charged with the killing of a child, since the Court of Appeal ruling in October, in which the media have not been able to name those involved.
They included a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in Dublin, and who lost his identity in media reports, since a man appeared in court in connection with his death.
‘It is important that the victims, and the families of victims, have a voice and are heard. We have fought very hard for that. It felt a little bit like we were being silenced over the past months, and the media was being silenced,’ the mother said.
The change in the long-standing practice was triggered by a Court of Appeal ruling in October last year, which had examined the small print of a now 20-year-old Children Act.
Previously it was thought that Section 252 related to circumstances where the victim of the crime was still alive, and that the law was created to protect that child in circumstances where they may be a witness.
However, Court of Appeal Judge George Birmingham said the Act was clear and unequivocal, and that child victims could not be identified even if they had died – and that this extended to not naming a killer if that would identify the child.