University
Express
Volume 24 | Issue 10 | Tuesday 30th March 2021
“#FixedIt allows us to take back control over the narrative surrounding sexual violence” - pg 6 -
UCCExpress.ie
“Each episode opens with a stunning image of the Earth suspended in a single sunbeam evoking our distinctiveness and insignificance all at one” - pg 12 -
“The strength of radio as a workplace soundtrack exists in its variety” - pg 18 -
IRISH WOMEN CALL FOR LAW REFORMS TO PROTECT AND PREVENT VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE Writes Maeve McTaggart, News Editor Victims of violent crime have called on the Irish government to reform laws which rehabilitate prisoners “at the expense of their victims,” advocate Sinead O’Leary has said. The implementation of the Parole Act - which sees the minimum life sentence extended from seven to twelve years and gives victims representation in the parole process under the establishment of a new Parole Board - has been a slow-burn since it’s signature in 2019, and survivors have begun to speak out on the re-traumatising impact of the standstill. While the Parole Board is established, the bill is not retrospective, meaning those with life sentences remain eligible for parole after seven years. Sinead O’Leary was nineteen yearsold when Peter Whelan broke into her friend Nichola Sweeney’s house in Rochestown, Cork as the girls were getting ready for a night-out in April of 2002. Whelan fatally stabbed Nichola and left Sinead with life-long injuries, who has since discussed “the deep pain of knowing [Nichola] had died” alongside “the overwhelming physical pain I was in.” Following the random attack, Whelan returned home, had a cigarette with his mother and re-joined a congregating crowd outside Nichola’s house as emergency services arrived. “He walked up to the house, acting like a concerned neighbour,” Sinead explained, “he had the presence of mind [to do that].”
his case repeatedly - going as far as the European Court of Human Rights - and has been granted day release three times, most recently in 2019. The O’Leary and Sweeney families were never notified of his escorted return to the community on these dates. “My sense of safety has been tarnished completely and will be forevermore,” Sinead says of learning her friend’s murderer had been at his home in Cork before serving even seven years of his life sentence. Whelan is now eligible for parole, but if functioning retrospectively, the Parole Act would have Whelan was given consecutive sentences delayed this process a further five years. of fifteen years in prison for the attempted murder of Sinead and life in prison The Act, committed to within the recent for Nichola’s murder. He has appealed Programme for Government, provides
for the extension of mandatory life sentences and the establishment of an independent, statutory Parole Board to which victims can appeal in person. Since it’s signature in 2019, the establishment of a Parole Board has been delayed due to “practical” issues, such as insufficient funding, a lack of premises and the need to recruit board members, staff and a Chief Executive. A Project Board has been established in the Department of Justice and wants to begin this process “as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson has said.
far between. The families of Sinead O’Leary and Nichola Sweeney are leading the charge to establish exclusion zones, where the perpetrator of a crime is prevented from again returning to the area. “I acknowledge that prisoners need to be rehabilitated, and in some cases reintroduced into society,” Sinead O’Leary has said, “but that should never be at the expense of their victims. The trauma of losing someone to murder has ripple effects throughout a community and throughout generations. These people need to be protected and supported and Victims’ advocates, often those who they should not have to face that murhave lost loved ones or are survivors of derer walking through their hometown.” violent crime themselves, are adamant that these reform measures are few and Cover story continued on page 3...