Ms Nora Owen:

It is very clear from what Ms Synnott said that more knowledge of domestic violence is emerging because of Covid. The pressures and tensions under which people are living because of Covid, such as not going out to their daily work and children not going to school, creates a tension inside the house. It is definitely having an effect. As a group, we do not specifically deal with domestic violence. We make sure that we raise these issues with An Garda Síochána and we note that it took them on board, for which it deserves full praise. I also noticed that the Courts Service was very good at keeping courts available to issue protection orders and so on.

By our work, I hope we are stimulating and keeping the other agencies of the State aware of their responsibility.

Before turning to Senator Joe O'Reilly, I will quickly touch on an issue Senator Craughwell raised. He is correct, it is difficult to recruit women into the armed services, the Defence Forces. Approximately 7% of the forces at the moment are women and almost the same percentage take part in the UN peacekeeping forces overseas. Currently, a working group is involved with the reorganisation of the Defence Forces. If you want more details on what the Defence Forces are doing, Chairman, I have no doubt you will have a meeting, if you have not had one already, with the Minister for Defence.

Vice Admiral Mark Mellett is very anxious to make sure that any of the gender biases in the Defence Forces are removed. He has spoken to our group and we have a member of the Defence Forces, a Naval Service person, on our committee as well as Ms Noreen Woulfe from the Department of Defence. We constantly keep an eye on that. A Defence Forces women's network has been established. I remind members that Brigadier-General, Maureen O'Brien, has been raised to second in command in the Defence Forces, the highest position any woman has ever reached. She is now working with the UN Secretary General. As the expression goes, if you cannot see it, you cannot be it. We are beginning to see some women emerging from the background in the Defence Forces.

Senator Joe O'Reilly raised a number of issues, including Covid, and the fact that women have lost some of their rights. He raised the cultural context in Palestine. I do not want to get into a cultural argument about whether some of these things are normal opportunities or actions. There are different cultural situations in many countries. I have travelled extensively in Africa and I have seen that where a woman loses her husband, his brother is entitled to take her into his family. There are all sorts of cultural differences that we would not countenance here in Ireland, but it is not for me to comment on them now.

I will ask Ms Hearns to speak about education. There is a frightening figure on what Covid has done to education facilities, in particular for girls. We have some figures here that the committee might be interested in that Ms Hearns could share with members.