Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 January 2026
749. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the total cost to date of the Victims Charter advertising campaign which is currently under way on television; to clarify that the Charter applies to Irish citizens as well as foreign nationals; and the reason eight of the nine actors who feature in the television advertisements for the campaign appear to be foreign nationals or from an ethnic minority. [6149/26]
View answerIn recent years, my Department has worked on a number of initiatives to support victims of crime. When victims of crime begin to engage with the judicial system, they should know what to expect, what their legally enforceable rights are, and the supports available at every step in the process.
These initiatives have included;
• The publication of a new Victims Charter in English and Irish and an ongoing commitment to regularly update the text which sets out exactly what rights victims have;
• An improved website for the Victims Charter website, which was last year awarded the ‘plain English’ certificate by the National Adult Literary Agency, as part of ongoing efforts to improve accessibility; and
• The development and hosting of a Victims Forum that brings together civic society organisations and State organisations, to discuss matters such as best practices and innovation in service delivery to victims
The ‘Victims of Crime – Know Your Rights’ campaign is a significant part of this overall work, using a high impact media strategy to reach both a national audience and also people within marginalised communities throughout the country. The campaign fulfils actions and commitments made by my Department raise awareness of victims’ rights in both the ‘Supporting a Victims Journey’ plan, published in 2021 and ‘Zero Tolerance’ - The Third National Strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, launched in 2022. The campaign, which has run across television, local and national radio, OOH, digital, print and social media, directs people to the VictimsCharter.ie website where they can learn more about their rights.
Two TV adverts – ‘Diversity’ and ‘Translations’ – form the centrepiece of the campaign. 'Diversity' focuses on community inclusivity with marginalised cohorts, people with a disability, the Travelling Community, and older generations are represented on screen. ‘Translations' is focused on ethnicity and migrant communities. In this version, text from the Victims Charter is translated into various languages including Polish, Mandarin, French, Lithuanian, Arabic and Portuguese.
As the Deputy notes, the campaign is currently running across all media. The total media related costs for this rollout, across November 2025 and January 2026, are €305,074.
