Ms Noeline Blackwell:

I thank the Chairman. Senator Higgins summed it up perfectly; there is probably no need for me to speak further. All present are certain in respect of the need to deal with this form of violence, which has been hidden, and to identify and build respect and understanding of the abuse it causes and the impact of that abuse on people. Society needs to accept that such violence cannot be tolerated. People must not be of the view that if it is happening behind closed doors or in one's friend group, we do not have to care about it or address it.

It is only 30 years since we delegitimised rape by a husband of his wife when we removed the defence of being a husband in respect of the offence of rape. All of that is ultimately where we are going.

Dr. Saidléar has been on the representative organisation of the rape crisis centres for a long time. I will take the liberty of speaking on behalf of the rape crisis forum, which is another similar construction that we are part of. All of us know what to do when somebody can disclose. It can take a long time for a victim of sexual violence to disclose that they have suffered violence, given the traumatic impact of sexual violence. Most people do not disclose it and feel threatened in disclosing it. Some people just do not have the facility to get to us. Those who do sometimes cannot get the therapeutic help they need.

We believe we have the tools we need right now. We have the capacity. People can call the helpline or engage in a web chat. Just as Women's Aid does with domestic violence, we now offer services in more than 100 languages so that at least people can say the words in their own language if they can say them at all. We know how to do the therapy. For instance, we have now effectively introduced a social worker to deal with issues such as housing that might arise for somebody who is getting therapeutic help. We know that education is needed. We know that other people need the language as well.

I often compare it to an old Ford Fiesta I had. I used to have to ask people to get out when climbing up a high hill because the thing would have fallen apart otherwise. Our sector has been denied investment. We have been denied an understanding of our importance. However, between domestic and sexual violence, the State almost fully outsources its obligations in this area to us. We are happy to accept that because we are specialists in the area. We need to reach everybody who needs us, when they need us and where they need us.

Dr. Saidléar spoke about creative ways. That will require us to do better than we are doing now. It needs to be recognised that we need to build that professional approach, including management structures that nobody wants to give us money for. Everybody wants to give us money to heal people, but nobody wants to facilitate us building a strong viable set of organisations. That is what the citizens asked for. They recognised that we are dealing with something that was previously hidden and people could not talk about. It is great that we are talking about it now and we are talking about it all the time. It would be absolutely brilliant if we could bring to reality what we know can make a happier, healthier and safer society.