Ms Margaret Martin:

To my knowledge there is one service, TLC Kidz, which Barnardos runs in Tipperary. There is a serious lack of a network of similar supports for children. I sit on the national monitoring committee on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and another thing that has been difficult is the resistance on the part of the Department of Education and Skills to recognising that abuse happens in the home. I have brought it up countless times at the committee, as have a number of people. The officials say the Department has had much more of a focus on "stranger danger". While it is important to have that, for many children this is something that has existed since before they were able to talk. We should not expect them even to be able to verbalise it. We have to find a way to support children in an age-appropriate way all the way through their lives. Those supports are sadly very inadequate. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is currently considering some curriculum changes, which presents an opportunity. However, people have to understand that this is something that is happening in a significant number of homes.

It has an impact on children. We need a variety of responses so that where children are experiencing it, they can talk to somebody about it. The main thing that they pick up on is the shame, stigma and safety issues, and very few of them will talk about it. They are unlikely to even talk about the level of threat to themselves.