Longford Senator insists ‘victim should be front and centre in judicial system'

Senator Micheál Carrigy said the threats made against him and his family did make him consider his role in public life.

The Ballinalee based Fine Gael Senator was speaking in the wake of last week’s court hearing where a man who had pleaded guilty to harassing him received a five months prison sentence, which was suspended for eighteen months.

“When your home and kids are targeted,” said Senator Carrigy of the threats, it “definitely did” cause him to consider his public role.

“When you feel someone is watching your home… and someone leaves a message threatening your own kids,” he said it was naturally a very worrying situation.

However, despite the threats made against him and his family, he said he would not be deterred from working on behalf of the people of Longford.

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“This is not going to stop me doing the job I love and that’s representing the people of Longford,” he said.

“That is something I am going to continue to do and after the next General Election I will be a TD for Longford and I will make sure that Longford gets what it is entitled to,” he said.

The length of time it took for sentencing to be completed in Longford District Court last week was something which Senator Carrigy found particularly frustrating.

“I was disappointed it took five hearings to come to this day and that my children have had to go through this for over a two year period, but I would hope that more people will come forward and go to their local gardaí and bring more of these cases to the court,” he said.

He said the case had taken a long time despite an early guilty plea by the defendant. He said he had been present at five court hearings himself.

“I still don’t understand why it took the length it did. There also seems to be much more focus on the criminal, rather than the victim,” Senator Carrigy said.

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“We need more gardaí out on the beat in Longford. There would be more gardaí on the beat in Longford if they weren’t being dragged back into court constantly, and being kept there for full days,” he said.

He said he had nothing but the “height of thanks to the gardaí for the way they dealt with it and for us as a family, they were very proactive, but it should have been dealt with last January”.

“We are all law-abiding citizens. I work hard - I always have, as have my family, which made the whole situation so disappointing,” Senator Carrigy said, particularly the online abuse.

“What happened to me and my family should never have happened. The threats of this type really crossed the line,” Senator Carrigy added.

“The victims ultimately in this were my children and my family,” he said.

“The victim should be front and centre in the judicial system, and that’s not the case. That was borne out to me during this, particularly the length of time that we spent on this case,” he said.

“There seems to be more consideration for those that are committing crime than the victims. The victims get lost in it,” he said of the judicial process.

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