Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to set the scene. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Public Service and Oversight, but the matter under discussion at this committee is much more serious than the three ring circus being discussed at that meeting. However, the proceedings of this committee will not get the media coverage they should get.

I was born in 1959 and my first memory is of the radio broadcast of the Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay fight in 1964. For as long as I can remember, my father was a thug and a bully. I am not altogether sure how my mother who is still alive and my brothers and sister will react to what I will now say. What has changed since 1964 to the present day? The answer is nothing. Ms Catherine Joyce made a very good point on the impact on children who grow up in these environments. What she said challenged me to speak out. I am now 54 years, but I remember that night which I have never forgotten. The first idea in my mind was I should be able to deal with him. I was big enough at 16 years of age to be able to do this. I left the house in 1976, but I believe the violence continued. As he was getting older, he was not able to do it after that. We received no protection from the Garda Síochána. It could not give us protection, but I did not know this. When I was 16 years going on 17, my sister who was then 15 years old and I dealt with the situation and locked him out of the house.

I believe the first people who witness the scene of domestic violence should see it as a crime scene. I do not know how the treatment and reform programme works in cases that took place in the past. What was perpetrated at the time was an absolute assault, a criminal act. We need to treat it as a criminal act. I have seen cases in the past couple of years and saw a case in which the house was taken apart. The garda who comes to the house should be investigating a crime because it is a crime; it does not become a crime afterwards.