Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday there was a lot happening in Leinster House and it was a bit of a circus at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, of which I am a member. However, in an adjoining room, before the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality a more serious debate was taking place, which we are now charged with addressing, on the issue of domestic violence. I made a clear statement about my family situation yesterday. Following that, I had to telephone my mother and my three brothers and sisters who did not know what I was going to say. I did not know what I was going to say myself but it is something that we needed to publicise. I could have done any number of radio or television interviews this morning and I did not do so because of that. I spoke to my sister in Australia earlier.

I have never drafted a Bill but I am going try to do that before we finish our session in this House and I am lucky that Senators Bacik and Zappone are members of the justice committee along with me. We need to criminalise domestic violence. We do not need to do much else but at least we might wipe out between 30% or 40% of the problem if we criminalise yet. Many groups appeared before the committee yesterday and it was a harrowing meeting that lasted almost three hours. They talked about refuge. We had this terrible situation in Ireland of talking about reform but that happens after the act or the crime has been committed.

Over the coming months I would appreciate the help of colleague to bring forward legislation to criminalise domestic violence, to provide that gardaí when they visit a house become witnesses after the event and to give evidence in court about what they have witnessed and to call the doctor to effectively take a picture of the crime scene. In addition, a peace commissioner should be empowered to sign a paper to remove the perpetrator of the crime, male or female, from the home. The notion of taking the mother or father and the children away from the home to a refuge is wrong; we need to take the perpetrator away from the family home and we need to deal with the person who committed the crime. The Leas-Chathaoirleach and the Deputy Leader will be supportive of that but, as a House, we need to do this.

This has been a chronic issue all over the country for many years. One man at yesterday's meeting referred to the 1990s when reviews and reports were carried out. I am aged 54 and I was able to take him back to 1964 or 1965. I can vaguely remember the first incident but they continued after that. We are charged with correcting this and I hope we can do that over the coming months and bring legislation forward to deal with it.