SEANAD REPORT:THE EXTRAORDINARY newspaper stories about people sympathising in a Kerry courthouse with a man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman made it necessary for the Minister for Justice to engage with the House on how the court system was failing crime victims, Fine Gael Seanad leader Frances Fitzgerald said.

The Minister should explain to the House how this could happen in a courtroom.

The Murphy and Ryan reports had documented the inability or refusal of the “officer class” within the Catholic Church to believe allegations made against one of their own. What had happened would probably lead to the resignation of a bishop. But she thought that what had taken place in the Kerry court meant they had to ask fundamental questions about the treatment of crime victims.

The Rape Crisis Network had recently published a report which noted that a victim in court was treated with very little respect. One victim had been quoted as saying that the court was a very lonely place.

Joe O’Toole (Ind) said it grieved him as a Kerryman to have to say he was nauseated by the reports. He did not know the background to the case, but he found it nauseating that a victim should be “put to Coventry and boycotted. I can fully understand how neighbours would sympathise with somebody found guilty of any crime . . . I cannot understand how the victim should be frightened, boycotted and, effectively, left alone without any support”.

Dan Boyle (GP), deputy Seanad leader said he agreed with the concern voiced by Ms Fitzgerald about the reported happening in Kerry. On a day when they were finally beginning to see individuals take responsibility within the Catholic Church in particular, the sort of mixed messages that were coming across on how the crimes of sexual abuse and rape were dealt with in this country demonstrated a double standard which could no longer be tolerated.

Paul Coghlan (FG) said the issue that had been highlighted by his party colleague, Frances Fitzgerald, centred on how this kind of thing could have happened in a courthouse. “One has to assume that the court was not in session.”

Fine Gael justice spokesman Eugene Regan said that there had been a report recently on the low level of reporting of sexual offences and convictions for that invidious crime.