Reverend Karen Sethuraman:

On that report, I sat with a group of women four or five weeks ago and I read out those statistics and I have to be really honest. It happened very naturally that each woman said "me too". That is why I wanted to highlight this report because women are willing and able to speak in a safe place that is given to them. The reason why I highlighted this is because we have a really deep problem of woundedness on our island and I know that Ms Murphy mentioned that. As we move forward, if we are planning and preparing, which is key, there needs to be a Department set up with a Minister in place that really champions this. As I mentioned, we also need an Oireachtas committee. We need this concentrated effort to go out into our communities and listen to our women and our people. Deputy Smith is absolutely right in that there needs to be room for multiple forums that task certain people who are capable of getting right into those communities. It is not enough to just listen to stories, we need to action. When I have a room full of women and they say it happened to them, what do we do about that?

Deputy Smith mentioned the influence of paramilitaries. Tomorrow, I am helping a family move out because they have been threatened by paramilitaries. This still happens. This is part of my every day. Again, there are stories, and that is why I emphasise the power of stories, because we are an island of stories. However, we must create the space that is safe for people to come forward and not just hear those stories but decide what we are going to do about them. We cannot sit easy with 98% of our women experiencing some form of abuse. That grieves me to my deepest core. Moving forward, I want to make sure women's stories of abuse are heard and that we give a commitment that this will get better. Those stories of abuse lead to stories of mental health issues and addiction. For me as a minister, I see it day in and day out. There needs to be a more concentrated effort and I really appreciate that the committee is so open to hearing our people and inviting us to have these conversations. However, this could range from a committee to a set Government position, right down to forums and into the heart of communities.

The women are there and they will speak.