Ms Orla Muldoon:

I thank the committee for inviting us here today. I am Professor of Psychology at University of Limerick and, along with my colleagues Catherine Naughton and Dr. Aisling O'Donnell, I have been conducting a programme of research on the impact of domestic violence, with particular reference to its implications for children. We are a group of psychologists and have no particular expertise in the area of law or the provision of care. We are really just here to outline findings of research we have conducted and to integrate those findings into the wider international literature, which we have done in our longer submission. I wish to tell the committee about two studies. The first is a recently completed study of 485 students aged between 16 and 25 in which we asked students to tell us how much exposure to domestic violence they had experienced. What is very clear from this study is that in a normal sample of university students there is a considerable degree of exposure to domestic violence, with, at the low end, 54% of young people reporting that they had seen one parent scream or yell at or threaten the other parent occasionally, while 31.6% stated that this behaviour was a regular occurrence. At the higher end, the question related to whether or not they had witnessed one parent kick, hit, choke or shove the other parent or pull their hair. A total of 16% reported this behaviour as being occasional while 8% reported that it was a regular occurrence. When we take the internationally validated measure that we have used, we find that about one in two students out of our sample have experienced multiple events that one could call domestic violence and that about 13% report regular experience of domestic violence in their own homes. Picking up on the point made by Ms Crowley, where she has a single example, we would argue that this problem is endemic for children and young people.

We would also argue that while, as a nation, we have been concerned about the experiences of children and have put measures in place to protect them in schools and institutions, it is now time to put measures in place to protect children in their own homes. Indeed, it is arguable that it is the place where they should be protected most. In our longer submission we detail the large body of research that highlights the negative consequences of domestic violence for children. If we want to address prevention into the next generation, there is no question that not exposing children to domestic violence is key. There is considerable evidence that those children who are exposed will become victims or perpetrators. A good first step would be acknowledging that domestic violence has consequences for children.

A second aim of that study and a second part of the analysis concerns children and young people who do well and those who do not do well. What we find is that those who do best and have the best health and well-being are those who have strong social bonds with either peers or family members. These are strong, positive buffering relationships with other people, be they family or peers. When we look at our exposed group, we can see that although their well-being is poorer, one will find that where strong positive family or peer bonds are in place their health is comparable to those people who have had low exposure. A key thing that we know from the literature is that children who have been exposed to domestic violence are often stigmatised. One thing we need to do to protect children is to destigmatise it and find a way to support these social bonds, because if children are stigmatised when they disclose that they have come from a family where domestic violence was normative, for want of a better word, it is not likely that they will be able to build strong social bonds. There is a strong action point in here about increasing awareness of the effect of domestic violence on children and reducing the stigma associated with domestic violence for children's parents and families more generally. In our longer submission, we have given some ideas about how other countries have had these kinds of campaigns and interventions.

The second study, which was very quick, is one we conducted with judges who were involved in custody and access cases, particularly where issues of domestic violence arose. What one finds is that judges report that they find the decisions to be very difficult and complex and that they are not sure how to protect family relationships while not putting children at risk. Our findings suggest that in this discretionary area of the law, there is a need for judicial education and for judges to be supported in their decision making. Those are our main points.