Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their submissions, which I read last night and again this morning. I preface all my observations at this meeting with the observation that, after the reporting of IBEC's extraordinary and worrying statement on domestic violence leave, what seems to have gone missing in the furore yesterday was that the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, had already indicated he was also going to look for documentation to prove a woman had suffered domestic violence. I hope now, after the reaction yesterday from the public, that will be squashed on the head because it kind of goes back to the debates that happened during the abortion referendum, when women tried to access early abortion if they suffered domestic abuse, and eventually, in their sense, everybody decided women should be trusted. I hope the women who were out yesterday on the radio for IBEC and indeed every woman working for IBEC feels their colleagues trust them. That is very important.

IBEC proposed there could be some compassionate leave given and I have to ask if they understand the word "compassion". Perhaps Dr. Gahan, as head of social policy at IBEC, could address that and could outline the context IBEC had with the Minister and his Department on this. I would also worry about how a person would be able to produce evidence of psychological damage, how injuries would be graded and that sort of thing. If it was to be a box-ticking exercise, which I believe it would be, there are a lot of mothers who would be very worried about people making reports to Tusla and about the fear of losing their children.

It might mean that women would be reluctant to come forward. I would like to start with that. What communication happened between the Department and the Minister? How does Dr. McGann feel about it and would she like to make a statement to clear things up?