Crime Victims being failed by Government

The Irish Government is failing to provide adequate support to victims of crime, according to Labour’s MEP candidate for the Midlands-North West Euro-constituency, Dominic Hannigan, who was speaking in advance of Friday’s European Day for the Victims of Crime (22 February).

Mr Hannigan said:

“Every year, an estimated 15% of Europeans or 75 million people in the European Union fall victim to crime.

“If the Government was serious about assisting crime victims then they wouldn’t have needed to be dragged into action by the European Commission.”

Hannigan was referring to the criticism levied by the European Commission last November, when they ticked Ireland off for failing to transpose the Victims of Crimes Directive in full. The Commission threatened to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice if Ireland didn’t act soon.

“This Directive is to ensure that victims of crime receive appropriate information, support and protection and are able to participate in criminal proceedings.

“According to the most recent Annual Report of the Crime Victims Helpline almost 4,500 contacts were made to the Crime Victims Helpline from people seeking support and information in 2017.

“Organisations such as this do tremendous work but they must be given full support by Government, and so they must implement legislation and directives in full.

“The fact that Ireland had dragged its heels speaks a lot about how the Government feels about crime victims. On this day, the European Day for Victims of Crime, they need to ensure that all parts of this directive and enacted and in place.”