Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

As I am sure the Taoiseach is aware, at approximately this time of year, Women's Aid publishes its annual domestic violence figures. Over 13,000 people called the organisation's helpline last year. Some 2,000 of those calls disclosed emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children in their homes and this represented a 25% increase on the previous year. Some 3,000 callers said that children were witnessing at first hand the abuse and violence perpetrated against their mothers. The Government has been in office for over 15 months and, as the Taoiseach is aware, he made a commitment on entering Government to introduce reformed, consolidated domestic violence legislation. Unfortunately, that legislation has been put on the back burner because the Government has prioritised troika-related legislation. We know that domestic violence increases during times of economic recession, so the urgency of dealing with this matter by introducing legislation also increases. I am disappointed that the Government has not yet taken the kind of concrete preventative action that is necessary to protect women and their children.

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