John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Murnane O'Connor has touched on a few of my points. I agree with Deputy O'Reilly on the issue of trust. We have all dealt with people who are in domestically violent situations. I have never come across a case where there was not some form of abuse taking place. It does self-police to a certain extent.

I completely agree with the proposal. This would be a hugely positive step for Ireland to take and it would be timely. The issue is cost. I was trying to get the Deputy's documents up on my device and I could not get them. Does the Deputy have any rough idea of what we are potentially talking about? I am talking about the practical politics, which is a bit grubby, in a sense. However, we all know the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform operates. We know how businesses operate. There could be possible trade-offs between them in how the costs would be carried. I presume that this would apply to public sector companies as well as private sector companies.

The other issue that I have found in my 20-something years as a public representative is that sometimes domestic violence is not just one spouse against another. It can be other people who are living in the household. I presume that they will be covered by what we are talking about here as well?