‘You have rights, you have support, you have a voice – find yours at VictimsCharter.ie’.
Campaign developed with marginalised, minority and hard to reach communities in mind.
The Minister for Justice, Simon Harris TD, has launched a significant new awareness campaign highlighting the rights available to you if you are a victim of crime.
The campaign, which will run across TV, local and national radio, digital and social, directs people to the VictimsCharter.ie website which sets out your rights in an easily accessible manner, and helps victims of crime to locate services and supports available.
Two adverts – ‘Diversity’ and ‘Translations’ – form the centrepiece of the ‘Victims of Crime – Know your rights’ campaign, and were developed with marginalised, minority and harder-to-reach communities in mind.
Minister Harris said, “We know that being a victim of crime can be traumatic, and victims can understandably struggle with knowing what to do next or what they are legally entitled to when engaging with our criminal justice system. It is so important to know that you have rights, you have a voice and that there are supports available to you. That is what this campaign is about – getting people to know their rights, getting victims to recognise VictimsCharter.ie as an important resource to which they can turn to for information and help when they need it most. I’m delighted to see the inclusive focus in this campaign. We hope that everyone living in Ireland will see themselves reflected in these ads. We know some groups in our society can be harder to reach and unfortunately we also know that some marginalised communities can be fearful of reporting crimes. Issues of intersectionality have arisen strongly in our engagement with victims’ groups in recent years and this is something we will be working to address. Victims’ rights and supports are available to all, and everyone should be aware of them”.
The Third National Strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, launched last June, is the first that recognises that certain groups can be at higher risk than others. Those at a higher risk include individuals with disabilities, asylum seekers, trafficked persons, as well as Travellers, Roma and members of the LGBTI+ community.
This campaign helps fulfil an action in the Third National Strategy to raise awareness of the legislation on victims’ rights that currently exists. ‘Diversity’ is focused on community inclusivity – marginalised cohorts, people with a disability, the Travelling community, and older generations are represented. ‘Translations’ is focused on ethnicity and migrant communities. Text from the Victims Charter is shown on faces, translated into various languages including Polish, Mandarin, French, Lithuanian, Arabic and Portuguese.
Minister Harris added, “If you are a victim of crime in Ireland you have rights – that includes everything from interpretation and translation services, to being accompanied by someone at all stages of the process, to information about any release date of the offender. I would encourage anyone who has been the victim of a crime to reach out to An Garda Síochána, but to also be aware that supports – such as Crime Victims Helpline Tel: 116006 – are available even if you don’t report the crime”.
The Department of Justice published a new and expanded Victims Charter in 2020 to take account of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017. VictimsCharter.ie was launched in 2021 to provide the information in an easily accessible manner, while still hosting all the information in the Charter.
The journey a victim of crime may face can be divided into three stages: Support and Reporting Stage, the Courts Process and The Post-Trial Stage. VictimsCharter.ie provides victims with the information relevant at each of these stages. It also has a section on their rights and the law.
As part of this awareness campaign, a series of animated educational videos have been created on each stage of the journey, and added to VictimsCharter.ie and will be used on social media to help people navigate the site.
The main assets were produced by the creative agency Javelin, working with the production company, Piranha Bar.
Mr Thomas Bourke (Cadet Leader Order of Malta Cadet Unit, Thurles), reports.
On Saturday last, April 22nd 2023, Thurles, Co. Tipperary were delighted to host the regional competitions for the South West Units of the Order of Malta Cadet Corps. Cadets and their leaders travelled from all over the south west area, to Thurles, for what was a fun filled day of competitions.
Picture shows: Thurles Cadets and their leaders following a very successful day competing in various first aid and home nursing competitions.
Thurles Cadets trained very hard all year and all instruction received paid off, resulting in Thurles Cadets being victorious and once again returning with silverware.
All Thurles Cadets are aged between 10 and 16 years of age and learn vital first aid and life-saving skills. Our Cadets volunteer on our ambulances, and assist senior members with community care duties.
A huge ‘Thank you’ to our Cadet Leaders and senior members who assisted with the smooth running of the competitions and who attend during our weekly training sessions.
Some weeks ago St. Patrick’s cemetery situated at Loughtagalla, Moyne Road, Thurles, received a badly needed tarmac upgrade, which we had highlighted HERE, back in mid-January of this year, 2023.
St. Patrick’s cemetery as viewed January 14th, 2023 last
While walkers now welcome the upgrade to the section of the grave yard which we highlighted, sadly once again those responsible for the command to ‘fix’, continued to waste taxpayer’s money, by laying Tarmac without laying the customary kerbing necessary to halt eventual ravelling.
The video above shows the failure to install concrete kerbing, before the Tarmac was laid. The result is that the sub base hardcore and Tarmac topping sits 4 inches above ground level, resulting in the edges already beginning to crack and ravel, as vehicles drive over the edges to park in the vacant spaces within the cemetery.
There was no excuse for this wanton waste, since most of the concrete kerbing was purchased many years ago and today lies unused, covered in grass and rubbish on site; slowly being stolen one or two at a time by individuals to use for other purposes in other places.
Sadly, also the Tarmac waste has been dumped on the grounds of the cemetery itself. Local farmers would have been happy to take this lose Tarmac away, to use as foundation for gaps or field gateways, latter being churned up by regular heavy tractor traffic.
Readers will be aware and will forgive my rhetorical figure of speech when I state that “Checkpoint Charlie”, also known as the entrance to the Slievenamon Road Car Park in Thurles, has been eradicated some weeks ago, with the whole “Lock, stock, and broken barriers” now vanished into history.
Who destroyed the 2 year old badly pointed limestone wall close by, [See top middle of Picture 1 below and also the picture inset], remains yet another mystery.
We had forecast the demise of “Checkpoint Charlie”, (Same an effort to save the wage of one Traffic Warden), if you remember, in early October last 2022, [View HERE]. The overall costings involved in the installation of “Checkpoint Charlie” was initially, we understand €95,000 plus. What it cost to remove less than 6 months after its was put into operation, and its current ‘scrap value’, now remains a closely guarded secret; known only to those we elected.
Picture No.1. “Checkpoint Charlie”, with demolished wall inset. Pic: George Willoughby.
However, there may be just one overall small saving grace in all of this waste of taxpayer’s money; which is unlikely to save the blushing faces of local councillors, their officials and Tipperary Co. Council.
See picture No.2. hereunder, note that I am referring to the two, now vacant, Plexiglas Perspex Acrylic coated parking ticket shelters.
Picture No.2. Shown here, one of two Perspex coated ticket shelters now vacant. Pic: George Willoughby
Here is a chance to create a ‘TFI Local Link’ bus stop between Thurles Shopping Centre and Lidl Supermarket, latter which is now, thanks to the total incompetence of Tipperary Co. Council officials, the newly created centre of Thurles town. These two vacant Perspex coated ticket shelters would make for an excellent ready-made bus stop shelter for the loading and offloading of bus passengers, were a bus stop area to be carved into the existing grass coated island, southeast of the town.
Here earthen sods would be easily available to ‘turn’ by either Mr M. Lowry TD or Mr J. Cahill TD, enabling them to officially open the bus shelter on its completion; giving the false impression that either or both were helping to bring prosperity to their native town of Thurles.
“I was born with a priceless gift, the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others.” “Australia is an outdoor country. People only go inside to use the toilet, and that’s a recent development.”, Above quotes from the great stand-up and now late comedian, John Barry Humphries (1934-2023).
Television viewers here in Co. Tipperary and indeed far beyond, will be greatly saddened by the news of the death of Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist, Mr John Barry Humphries[Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) & Order of Australia (AO)], who passed away today, aged 89 years.
Mr Humphries was best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos of Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.
Although best known to his audiences for his delivery of deliberate irrationality and absurdist humour, Mr Humphries was also a film producer; script writer; a star of London’s West End musical theatre; a writer and a landscape painter.
His alter egos of the lilac-rinsed haired Dame Edna Everage evolved over a forty year period, latter to become a satire of stardom; while his portrayal of an inebriated, boorish, loud-mouthed, uncouth and uncultured, ‘cultural attaché to the Far East’, in the character of Sir Les Patterson, over the past 30 years became a regular feature in his solo theatrical appearances, both in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Having entertained on stage and screen for over 70 years, we understand that Mr Humphries tripped on a rug, while reaching for a book, back in February, latter resulting in him requiring surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. He had been readmitted to hospital just this week, yet despite his accident, he had fully expected to be back and fighting fit within weeks, but sadly he never recovered.
His passing means the loss of one of our all-time great stand-up comedians.
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