Justice Minister Naomi Long has confirmed that she intends to ask the Home Office to extend their proposed legislation to create a standalone offence of drink spiking in England and Wales to Northern Ireland.
While drink spiking can be dealt with under existing legislation including the Offences Against the Person Act, there have been calls to create a specific offence of drink spiking.
In a letter to Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, Ms Long confirmed that due to the limited time left in this Assembly mandate, she intends to bring forward a Legislative Consent Motion to extend the proposed new offence to Northern Ireland rather than bringing specific legislation to the Assembly.
A legislative consent motion is a motion which seeks the agreement of the Assembly to Westminster considering provisions of a Bill which deals with a matter which is devolved.
Mr Eastwood has been pressing the British Government to expedite the introduction of a new standalone criminal offence of spiking and to provide additional resources to tackle the crime as a means of addressing the increase in violence against women and girls.
Colum Eastwood MP said: “Drink spiking is a sinister crime and it’s often a precursor to acts of violence against women and girls. It’s really important, therefore, that we do everything in our power to eliminate it and to punish those responsible. That’s why I have been pressing the British Government to expedite plans to introduce a standalone criminal offence of spiking, updating the law and resourcing new programmes to keep women and girls safe.
“Given the disappointingly slow pace of legislation coming through the Assembly, I also wrote to the Justice Minister at the end of last year asking her to commit to supporting a legislative consent motion that would extend the new law being considered at Westminster to Northern Ireland. This approach could save years of time and demonstrate our shared commitment to addressing violence against women and girls. I am pleased that the Minister has confirmed, subject to Executive approval, that she agrees with this approach.
“This is an area where we have strong cross-party agreement, now we need to see action. I will work with the Executive and the Home Office to make sure we get this across the line as quickly as possible.”
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English (United States) ·