Fine Gael has called for a radical reform of the criminal justice system that would result in victims of crime no longer being treated as "bystanders" in legal proceedings.
The party has published a Victims' Rights Private Members' Bill that it says would protect the rights and dignity of victims if it came into law.
The party said victims of crime in Ireland were without a strong voice, and its proposed measures would empower them and give them a more central legal role, following their ordeal at the hands of offenders.
The private members' Bill was was launched yesterday as part of Fine Gael's wider campaign on crime, which includes a national survey of victims' experiences. The party said it hoped for support from the Government.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said it had not yet seen the Bill but it would "consider it" without giving any undertakings as to its content.
The spokesman added that a range of new measures on behalf of victims of crime would be introduced by the Government including the establishment of a new victims' support agency.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said there was a common perception that criminals had more rights than victims, and the Bill would address this by making statutory provision for a victims' rights charter.
Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter, who drafted the Bill, said that under its provisions, the State and its agencies would be required to inform victims of crime of the appropriate and necessary services available to them.
In the Fine Gael plan, victims would be kept informed of progress made in the investigation of a crime reported by them; of the progress before the courts of any prosecution initiated; and of the outcome of any court proceedings relating to an alleged or convicted offender in respect of the offence of which they are a victim.
Moreover following conviction, victims for the first time would be entitled to make representation on a convicted offender's applications for parole and release.
Under the measures, the party also wants an obligation imposed on the prosecution to make "all reasonable efforts", to ensure a victim impact statement is available to a court when sentencing any offender.
"Where such a statement has been made and the victim wishes to give oral evidence to the court of the effect on the victim of a specific offence, the court is obliged to do so where the offence is, a sexual offence, one that relates to violence or child trafficking/ sexual exploitation of children," the party proposes.
Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has urged groups that provide support and assistance to victims of crime to apply for grant funding of €1.33 million that is being disbursed in 2008 by the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime. He said the €1.33 million figure is an increase of 40 per cent on the 2007 funding allocation of €950,000 from which 37 organisations providing such services benefited.