Ms Marie Brown:

Much that has been spoken, in terms of the armed conflict in the North, primarily centred around paramilitary and State violence. Victims have spoken movingly of their stories, their quest for justice and justice denied. Horrific as this violence was, and continues to be in some cases, there is another masked and hidden violence. Thousands of victims have gone to Rape Crisis Centres, counselling, Women's Aid and other organisations because they suffered horrendous domestic and sexual abuse. They are victims of hidden crimes or what the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 refers to as a political crime.

We refer to this type of violence as being hidden. It is generally and inadequately reflected in the reporting of crime statistic figures in the North. Over the years piecemeal research has been conducted in the North. Some years ago the National Women's Council, in conjunction with Foyle Women's Aid, held public conferences on the issue and called it the "other violence". There was little support or awareness of what these women and children had to go through.

Today, I sent the committee a presentation on the family justice centre and Foyle Women's Aid is keen to commence the project on the island of Ireland. I supplied as much information as I could in the presentation and I am happy to answer questions. We want to open a Family Justice Centre because there are still many barriers to justice for women, children and men in the North. The proposed family justice centre would also cater for men.

We have a legacy of policing being housed in large buildings that are inaccessible or intimidating and are under threat of attack by dissident groups. There is no normality of services and the buildings can prevent families from approaching them. Sometimes people are intimidated and threatened by communities if they seek justice or take their cases through the natural processes that take place anywhere else. Sometimes the politics of the North takes precedence over domestic violence services. For example, a dissident threat or something that happens at a political level leads to all of the domestic violence services disappearing on those days.

Domestic violence impacts on young people and families. Domestic violence can lead to certain behaviour in many young people that needs support. They need help to deal with the matter. Unfortunately, some of these young people are dealt with in a very violent fashion within communities. It has become common for some of our young people to be led up lanes and shot in their knees. People accept that as being okay and view it as normal. We need to address some of the issues of anti-social behaviour in other ways and get rid of such violent behaviour.

All services provided to all victims must be professional and all of the professionals must sing off the same hymn sheet. Sexual violence also needs to be addressed. There has been a gap in services throughout the 30 years of violence. Women have told Women's Aid about sexual violence that they could not speak about before. We need to examine how to provide them with a service. Many of the cases in the courts are historical ones that happened 30 years ago.

All family violence damages individuals, families and communities. Investing in communities without tackling domestic terrorism, which in itself destroys communities and families, means that we do not have peace. We cannot have peace without tackling the matter. My group seeks the support of the committee to develop the first family justice centre in Ireland and to work in partnership with the South. I hope that we can further develop the project. We have already signed up with the European Alliance and I shall visit the US at the end of June. We have also signed up with the US Alliance and hope that Ireland will be included in the provision of services that will be developed in Europe and the US.

I thank the committee and hope that it will support me in starting to address the violent culture in Ireland, to stop it flourishing any further and to achieve some meaningful peace in the North. I am open to answering any questions.