Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses, particularly Ms Owen who has been a trailblazer and who broke through the glass ceiling long before many women in Ireland. She comes from a family of very strong women. I am delighted as a brother of eight sisters. All my sisters were strong, independent women in their own right. I never really understood anything but inequality until I left home.

It is a strange world that we live in. On the day we are speaking about this, some 29,717 people had to report domestic violence in Ireland over the last 12 months, which is horrendous. Is domestic violence more prevalent in direct provision centres where I am sure there are severe psychological pressures on those who are in them?

I was brought to Italy in 2018 to look at the migration issue for myself. I am delighted to hear it referred to as "migration" because the people were misclassified as "refugees" in the early days. There certainly were refugees but a number of people who travelled across the Mediterranean were migrants and should never have gone through the process they went through to get into Europe. As migrants, the Irish should have a much better understanding of what drives people to take those awful trips. The women I met in Italy went through horrendous times only to be trafficked. It was not sufficient for them to pay their way with many of them sold and resold during the trafficking process. Does Chief Superintendent Synnott have any information in regard to this? One of the problems that was initially identified was that young women were trafficked as far as Tripoli. They were sold into sexual slavery there for a period of time. They were then sent across the Mediterranean as migrants or refugees, or however one might classify them. They went through the system and when they came out the other side of it, those who trafficked them were waiting for them to put them back into sexual slavery of some sort or other, or some form of sales. Is there any evidence in Ireland of young women, who were brought here as migrants or refugees and put into direct provision centres, being used in that industry? Have there been any arrests or convictions in this area?

I will be as quick as I can be on this because I appreciate other members want to get in. We talk a lot about women in peace and security. Irish female members of both the Garda and Defence Forces who have served oversees have blazed a trail of being able to negotiate or speak with people, particularly on gender-related issues. It is a proud track record to have. The day the first female general was appointed by the United Nations was a proud day for Ireland. Recently, Maureen O'Brien was appointed major general. In 2012, the reorganisation of the Defence Forces resulted in the narrowing of the pyramid. That narrowing has meant that a significant number of women, particularly those of childbearing age, in the Defence Forces are confronted with making a choice early in their careers to remain childless or leave the Defence Forces. This is an extremely disturbing thing. When a rotating position comes up, a female is identified to be rotated to the Lebanon or Mali, or wherever we are serving at a particular time. If she has young children, she may be excused. That leads to two inequalities in my view. The first is that the woman has to be given an alternative role in Ireland for the period she would have been rotated. Frequently, one finds that a woman serving in Cork is sent to Dundalk to fill a vacancy there. That vacancy in Dundalk arises because a man is chosen to fill the rotating position in the Lebanon, or wherever, that she should have filled. We finish up with two women being negatively impacted by the system. The woman who should have been rotated is, nevertheless, moved across the country away from her family. The second woman impacted is the wife or partner of the male colleague who, at very short notice, is told that he is going to the Lebanon, or wherever, for a period of six months. Is this something the oversight group thinks about when it comes to service in the forces?

To have equality, we must have family friendly systems in place. None of the women I have spoken to want to go public. When I talked to them about the reason they left, they explain that there were unfriendly family circumstances and they leave because of that. I am sure this impacts gardaí as well. While I have not heard any personal information from gardaí, I certainly have from members of the Defence Forces. Given that both serve in uniform, I am sure it impacts both forces. I thank the witnesses for their time.