Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

Domestic violence continues to be one of the most insidious and complicated forms of violence in contemporary Ireland. It is estimated that up to one in five women has experienced domestic violence in some form on the part of a current or former partner or husband. Domestic violence is by no means the preserve of one social or economic grouping in society. Rather, it affects women from all walks of life. Research shows that the criminal and civil justice systems consistently fail to recognise the complexities of domestic violence, address the safety of victims or hold offenders accountable.

The Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, announced yesterday that a national agency to combat domestic violence is in the offing. This national agency will purportedly incorporate all the offices and agencies involved with domestic violence, thus ensuring a well co-ordinated Government response to the problem. Layers of bureaucracy have been established in the past ten years to deal with this issue, including the establishment of the taskforce on violence against women and the national steering committee on violence against women. Why not put funding into the desperately needed front-line services such as refuges rather than create another layer of bureaucracy?

This announcement smacks of electioneering. Why does it come only two or three months before a general election? The Government had a decade to make this a priority issue but it failed to do so. The announcement flies in the face of the attitude of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform one month ago when he refused to secure the funding of the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency, NDVIA. The agency's future hung in the balance for weeks as a result of sheer Government disinterest. It was only when the NDVIA was on the verge of closing its doors and thus generating bad headlines that the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, took any action. The Government's failure to intervene until the 11th hour was a clear indication of the total lack of commitment to providing care and assistance to those affected by domestic violence.

Statistics show that calls made to the Women's Aid helpline increased by 30% between 2004 and 2005 and that more than 10,000 calls were not answered. That is a horrifying statistic. A severe shortage of safe accommodation for vulnerable women and their children is a major problem. The refuges in Bray and Rathmines, for example, must cope with all the cases for south Dublin. There is nowhere in Dún Laoghaire for women to go. It is an appalling statistic that more than 500 women and 1,000 children sought refuge from domestic violence last year in the Dublin area alone.

The Green Party strongly supports the work of the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency pilot project based in Dún Laoghaire. The agency works in conjunction with the Garda Síochána, Courts Service, probation and welfare service, Health Service Executive and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. We must have a strong inter-agency response to domestic violence that places the safety of victims and their children as paramount. This scheme should be in receipt of multi-annual funding and should be rolled out throughout the State on a phased basis.

It is important to recognise that men also suffer domestic violence at the hands of women. The statistics are available in this regard. However, the bulk of the violence that takes place in a domestic setting is against women. It typifies the male dominance in Cabinet that multi-annual funding has not been provided for domestic violence as it is for major infrastructural projects.

The statistics speak for themselves. In the past ten years, more than 100 women were murdered in Ireland, the vast bulk of them in their own homes. In those cases that have been resolved, all were perpetrated by a man and almost half by the victim's partner or ex-partner. There is no time to waste. This is an issue that must be dealt with without delay.

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