Council: Stalking should be an offence
SLIGO County Council will call on the Minister for Justice to reconsider her department’s decision not to have a specific offence of stalking introduced. The motion was tabled at a recent meeting in the council chamber by Cllr Donal Gilroy who said that the offence should not only be introduced but that longer sentences for the crime should also be considered.
Cllr Gilroy was speaking in light of the story of a resident from Grange – Eve McDowell – who was subjected to months of harrassment from a stalker in Galway.
Eve McDowell and Cork woman Una Ring, whose life was also affected by a stalker, are campaigning for stalking to be made a specific criminal offence as it is currently considered a form of harrassment.
Cllr Gilroy said that stalking is very different to harrassment and that the limit on the conviction for harrassment is not enough in the case of stalking. He said: “At present in Ireland, there is no law that defines stalking as a crime. This council calls on the government to urgently enact clear and concise stalking legislation in Ireland.
“On the rare occasion that stalking is prosecuted in Ireland, it is prosecuted under harassment laws. The terms ‘stalking’ and ‘harassment’ are sometimes used interchangeably, but they can be significantly different.
“Harassment is unwanted behaviour from someone else that makes you feel distressed, humiliated or threatened. “Stalking, however, is more intense, sinister and distressing. Stalking is a pattern of fixated, obsessive behaviour which is repeated, persistent and intrusive. It causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim. Victims of stalking are often at risk of violence from their stalker.
“Although stalking has recently been associated with crimes against women it can also be a crime against a man. It can be used against celebrities, politicians and civic leaders and needs to be clearly defined as a crime.
“Two brave women who were subjected to stalking were on the Late Late Show recently. Stalking and harrassment are two very different things and the man who entered the apartment in one of those stories had an intention, it wasn’t just silly behaviour.”
The motion was supported by Cllr Gino O’Boyle who said similar cases of stalking are not uncommon in Ireland and that “it is something which needs to be cracked down on.”
Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady also supported the motion and praised the intervention of Gardaí in both stories.
RIGHT: Eve McDowell’s story in the Sligo Weekender on April 29.