Mattie McGrath backs amendment but warns against rushing bill
Mattie McGrath spoke in support of an amendment addressing harassment and menacing electronic messages, but warned the bill may be being rushed. He said legislation is needed to tackle constant harassment and menacing messages, but it must be robust, effective and transparent.
Support for the amendment
He endorsed the amendment and described it as necessary to address the distress caused when people are beset by menacing messages and ongoing one-way harassment. He agreed with concerns raised by Deputy Pingel and stressed the need for legislation to deal with that behaviour.
Concerns about the speed of the bill
He warned that the bill might be moving too quickly, urging a "make haste slowly" approach. He noted reviews are not always timely, that legislation is seldom repealed or properly re-examined, and that there is often only one chance to get it right.
Need for robust and transparent measures
He argued the law must be robust, effective and transparent because those responsible can be sophisticated and have resources to challenge legislation. He said the legislation must send a clear message that following, intimidating or sending menacing messages and spikes in electronic surveillance will not be tolerated.
Penalties as a deterrent
He called for mechanisms and proper penalties that will act as a deterrent, emphasising the seriousness of the issue and the need to ensure enforcement is effective and credible.
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I too want to stand to support this amendment and I think it's, as Deputy Pingel has said, it is very disturbing and distressing for people to beset or indeed send menacing messages and to literally be all the time harassment and indeed one-way traffic and there needs to be some legislation to deal with it and as Deputy Pingel said himself, and it isn't, it isn't, maybe we're rushing this bill, well we all wanted it, we all spoke up here a month ago when the crisis hit, Deputy Howden has been championing for years, maybe make haste slowly and maybe get it right, maybe we're rushing it and like as Deputy Pingel said as well, reviews don't always happen as timely as we'd like them, I haven't seen that with legislation, very seldom it's repealed or it's indeed properly reviewed or come back in for debating and so you get one chance at it, you get one chance at it, it's so serious, maybe we should, we should, you know, as I said, we're through line by line, it's because you're dealing with sophisticated criminals who have the money in the way of all to challenge legislation so it needs to be robust and it needs to be effective and it needs to be transparent and it needs to send out a message there that that kind of behaviour, you know, following or intimidating or sending messages or a spike in our electronic surveillance is worse and that there must be a mechanism to deal with that and to ensure that there's proper penalties that will act as a deterrent because we need that. Thank you.
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