Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think Ms Van Lieshout is absolutely correct. She has put it more eloquently than I have ever heard it. If we are going to wait for statistics on GBV, we will be waiting a very long time and we will let down a many women. I will explain why I asked that question. We are seeing an increase in migration and movement of people. If the country of arrival does not have the resources to meet the needs of those crossing the border, which are often based on trauma, how best can the host country react and address that trauma before it gets to the point where it is hugely destructive?

Ms Van Lieshout is correct about needing women’s voices at the table. This committee has heard this many times. Even when we were back in the most restrictive of Covid-19 restrictions and using Teams or Zoom, the need to have women’s voices at the table came across strongly and passionately.

An aspect of peace-building that I do not think we speak of enough is the fact that peace can be very fragile. While peace-building is certainly one aspect, the embedding of peace into a community is vital and the monitoring, maintaining and nurturing of that peace is vital to ensure it is sustained. It is in those areas that women’s voices need to be around the table too.