An unpalatable budget

THE 2010 Budget was a bit like giving a child a dose of cod liver oil. No matter how you might have tried to convince the protesting child that it was for his or her own good, it didn’t make it any more palatable.

To be fair, the Government didn’t attempt to hide the fact that a budget designed to deliver €4 billion in savings through cutbacks would leave a bitter aftertaste.
Compared to the sugar-coated candy dished out on budget days in the Celtic Tiger era, Brian Lenihan’s offering was simply horrible. He did lift the gloom somewhat during his budget speech in the Dáil when he said that the worst is over and that the economy is now well placed to recover.
Brian Lenihan will be seen as the arch villain by public service workers for cutting their salaries by 5% at the lower end of the scale and up to 15% for those earning €200,000 or more. This measure will deliver savings of over €1 billion in 2010.
In a climate where unemployment is still rising, there’s sure to be a backlash over cutting the Jobseeker’s Allowance and basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance for new applicants aged 20 to 24 inclusive. Strongly criticised already, don’t be a bit surprised if this brings more people onto the streets in protest. The cuts in child benefit rates will have a big impact on the less well off in society and parents of young families will be far from happy with Mr Lenihan.
There were a few aspects of the budget that will find favour with the public; among them, the extension of mortgage interest relief to the end of 2017 for those that now find themselves in negative equity, the car scrappage scheme and reduction of excise duty on alcohol in an attempt to stem cross-border shopping.
We might have cheaper wine and beer but there won’t be too many people proposing a toast to Finance Minister Brian Lenihan this Christmas.

Shocking tales of rape
ARE we a nation of rapists and child abusers?  With the fallout from report into clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin reverberating in the Vatican this week, we are bombarded with yet another report which brings even more shame on us as a society.
Sex was a taboo subject in the Holy Catholic Ireland of not too long ago but now it’s a major topic of discussion for all the wrong reasons.
Rape and Justice in Ireland, a National Study of Survivor Perpetrator and Court Responses to Rape, commissioned by the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI), provides us with a disturbing insight into the scale of rape in our society and how it is dealt with in our criminal justice system.
Ireland has the highest fallout in Europe between reporting the crime of rape and sexual assault and getting a conviction in court. Only one in 10 reports this crime. The research for the newly published report deals with the one in 10.
On Monday night, during a discussion on the report on TV3’s Tonight with Vincent Browne, the presenter said people hadn’t cottoned on to the fact that half a million people in our society had been raped; 300,000 men and women raped in childhood. The Rape Crisis Network’s decision to initiate the study was prompted by Ireland’s increasing levels of reporting of rape by women and decreasing convictions.
The four-year study looks at different key stages of our criminal justice system and reveals insights that have not previously been documented in Ireland before. The research involved interviews with 100 victims of rape, examining almost 600 files from the office of the DPP, 173 Criminal Court cases and transcripts from 35 contested rape trials.
The report drives home the fact that a rape doesn’t necessarily equate to a violent attack by a stranger on a lonely lane or backstreet.
In fact, the most common rape is committed in a private place, with the victim’s own home being the single most common location, by an individual known to the victim and the time lapse in reporting is greater than one hour. However, this type of case is less likely to be prosecuted than the uncommon situation where the complainant is attacked by a stranger in a public place and reports it immediately.
RCNI executive director, Fiona Neary said it is clear from the evidence in Rape and Justice in Ireland that an inaccurate rape stereotype is pushing large numbers of cases out of the legal system.
“Victims, gardaí, the DPP and, in turn, possibly juries, are measuring the credibility of a rape against a narrow stereotype. If the rape does not conform to the stereotype, as the majority of them do not, victims second guess that the gardaí and people generally will not believe them and so decide not to report.
Alarmingly, the report notes that 70 in every 100 rape cases are dropped by the DPP, who only prosecutes one in every three. The main reason given by the DPP for non prosecution is “lack of evidence” but the report suggests that stranger/acquaintance, public/private issues may be more relevant.
The report notes high levels of alcohol consumption by both complainants and defendants in cases reviewed and of those who specified how much they had consumed, nearly two-thirds of complainants and 88 % of defendants admitted to binge-drinking.
Not only are women who have consumed alcohol more vulnerable to being targeted for sexual assault but they are also less likely to be considered useful and reliable witnesses if they report to the gardaí, according to the report. Ultimately, their case is more likely to fall out of the system.
The report, prepared by a team led by Conor Hanly from NUI Galway, strongly recommends that dealing with Ireland’s drinking culture, particularly as it affects the behaviour of potential perpetrators, be seen both as a part of any anti-rape campaign and a prerequisite for the success of any such campaign.
It recommends a media campaign aimed at men, particularly young men, to make them aware that rape is a possible consequence of binge-drinking. “They need to be reminded that they are responsible for their own actions, and that voluntary intoxication does not relieve them of that responsibility, morally or legally,” the report warns.
Rape is rape in any circumstances and anybody convicted of such a crime deserves to be jailed.