John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for the comprehensive overview they have provided this morning. I commend and thank them for all their ongoing work on the national action plan. I am delighted to meet them. It is not lost on me that our meeting coincides with the launch by Women's Aid of its annual impact report. Some of the statistics in the report are shocking. In the context of gender-based violence and domestic violence, it has given a figure of 29,717 women having contacted its services alone in the past year. Senator Craughwell stated that was seemingly the totality of women who contacted services looking for support but, unfortunately, that is not the case. The figure relates to its services alone. It is an increase of 43%. I am conscious that there are many other services doing exceptional work and providing assistance to women who need it. The reference in the report to this being the tip of the iceberg is certainly not lost on me. It just shows the unfortunate level, unfortunately, of gender-based violence, not just nationally, but internationally as well.

I refer to the issue of Covid, which has been extensively covered. A very grim statistic is that 20 million girls will never return to school as a consequence of Covid. That is absolutely shocking. I completely agree with the observation that we need to ensure that as many young girls as possible get back to education and that we do not lose any of them. That should be the target. I commend all those who will work on that issue.

I also wish to touch on the impact of Covid on peace processes across the world. The committee has previously heard testimony regarding the peace process in Mali, where there have been significant efforts to get female participation in that peace process, as has also been the case for many other peace processes around the world. We know the benefits that derive from having males and females engaged on peace talks and peace processes. It has been suggested that, unfortunately, there has been a considerable fall-off in female participation in the peace process in Mali as a direct consequence of Covid and women returning to caring roles at home. I ask our guests to comment on whether that is prevalent. Is there evidence of that happening in the context of peace processes?

I welcome some of the commentary regarding Tigray. It is an issue the committee has dealt with extensively. There are serious concerns that we need to ensure that Ireland, through its seat on the UN Security Council, continues to give prominence not just to Tigray, but also to Yemen, which was mentioned. The unfortunate reality is that both those areas are moving towards famine as a direct consequence of conflict. More needs to be done in addressing those issues.

Another issue with which the committee has dealt is that of the genocide of the Yazidi people perpetrated by ISIS in 2014. We know that more than 12,000 people were slaughtered in the initial assault on the Yazidi people by ISIS and that more than 3,000 women and girls, some of them as young as nine years of age, were taken into captivity by ISIS and used as sex slaves. It has been suggested that Ireland was very slow to prioritise the victims of sexual violence in that conflict. I ask our guests to comment on that issue and the use of sex as a weapon of war, as has been alluded to not just at this meeting, but by witnesses at previous meetings of the committee. The recently established Yazidi Survivors Network has a specific request on which the committee has picked up and we have formally put the proposal to the Minister. It is looking for the mere sum of €368,000 to give voice and real tangible assistance to the survivors of the genocide of the Yazidi people by ISIS. Is that something to which the oversight group would lend its support? It would go a long way towards helping the healing process there, as well as the accountability and justice that many of the Yazidi people deserve.

I refer to the major failure to address sexual violence against women, children and other refugees in camps ostensibly run by the EU, such as that at Moria in Lesbos, where there are major issues of psychological trauma, extreme poverty and ongoing violence. Why is there a perceived lack of prioritisation in terms of addressing those humanitarian crises in the camps?

An issue that has come to the fore in this State is that of mother and baby homes and the publication of the recent report. Many of the wounds and much of the trauma have been reopened for so many survivors, including the many women who had harrowing experiences in the mother and baby homes. In light of that continuous hurt, what should be done? What does the oversight group consider must be done to try to address the recent harm done to the survivors and the women who went through many years of harrowing experiences in mother and baby homes?

The last issue I wish to raise is about the Defence Forces. A number of people have spoken to us about this. The figures have been referred to with only 7% female membership within the Irish Defence Forces. That is a shocking figure. We know many of the issues affecting why there is such a low number of females within our Defence Forces. However, there are many structural issues within the Defence Forces which add to the impact on the recruitment and retention of women. It has been stated that even on some of our overseas missions, there are no specific shower facilities for women members of the Defence Forces who participate in overseas missions. I wish to ask the oversight group whether this is a specific issue that has been raised with the Minister and the Defence Forces. I see this as a major impediment. If we are serious, which I hope we all are, about gender equality within our Defence Forces, structures are one of many blockages in achieving that. I would like to hear witnesses’ views on this and whether it has been an issue that has been highlighted and raised with the Minister and other powers that be.