People should take more time to think about giving a character reference for someone found guilty of a sexual offence.
That's according to Mary Crilly of the Sexual Violence Centre in Cork who says anyone giving a character reference will have do to it in court under the proposed changes.
The new bill which will be presented to the Oireachtas, also aims to strengthen the laws in relation to consent and protect victims of human trafficking.
Mary Crilly of the Sexual Violence Centre has spent years campaigning for changes to be made around giving character references for someone found guilty of rape or other sexual offences.
Speaking to RedFM News, she says the new bill will be a huge step forward for sexual assault survivors:
"It's easy to give a letter in, and post it, or hand it to somebody - and then that's the end of it. But I think very few will come up and stand and be prepared to be cross-questioned about how really well they knew this person and how they decided they were of good character and be named - very few of them will do that. Because I'd question even the ones in the sports club for example because I don't know if their members know, if their board even know, that they've come up and done this character reference so come on on boys, if you want to do it, come up and be named".
