Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

This is a hugely important issue. I am very happy that the legislation tabled by Deputy Ellis was selected from the lottery because it is probably the first proactive discussion we have had on the issue. I cannot help but remark on the certain, sad irony between the attendance in the Chamber and the media fanfare last week, when we discussed one tragic case of rape and violence against a woman, one who deserves justice. Where is the media attention now? Where are all the Dáil Deputies now? The reality in society is that domestic violence is the most prevalent form of violence against women. As much as 20% of women are affected by domestic violence which daily blots the landscape of the lives of many women and children, and increasingly men as well. In that sense I am satisfied that we are finally discussing this issue positively because it is very broad ranging. The State’s inadequate response to it is something that must be tackled.

The information in the Garda Inspectorate report was not alarming; it was just confirmation of the reality that people have experienced when they try to seek help and refuge when they are in a violent situation in their home. The information now exists and is indisputable but when they go looking they do not find it.

In most of our Garda stations it is not even treated as a crime, although there were some positive exceptions to that. The report confirmed that the gardaí displayed negative attitudes towards domestic violence, referring to the cause as problematic, time-consuming and a waste of resources. The attitude seemed to be that it was not a real crime and it should be sorted out between the parties. It is that old throwback mentality that, sadly, we have not shaken off in terms of the institutions of the State, and that must be grappled if we are serious about dealing with these issues.

Like Deputy Murphy I was shocked by the Minister of State's contribution. We were checking to see if it was 1 April because it did not bear any reality to the real lives on the ground. It is insulting to talk about concern for the victims of domestic violence while at the same time standing over a situation where resources to the groups that work with those victims are being systematically cut in the lifetime of this Government. It is insulting to talk about helping the victims of domestic violence when the Government is cutting resources to spaces to where those people could escape and when education, training and awareness programmes are being cut.

We are standing over an economic situation where women and children have been the hardest hit by austerity. How many women have decided to stay with a violent partner and put up with the beatings and the abuse because the alternative, if they were very lucky, is a room in a hotel that they would share with their three or four children? There is nothing available for anybody in that situation. We have a homeless crisis in this State, and the idea that all people have to do is turn up to the local authority and they will be looked after is not an experience that anybody has met in the real world.

The motion is a worthy one and I will be supporting it. We must strive towards a society where all people feel safe. In particular one should feel safe in one's home and one should not be subjected to abuse in any form but that requires resources, and if the Government does not deal with the resources issue it is not dealing with the problem.

It is fortuitous that the Bill was selected the day after the vigil in advance of the international day against violence against women. I will not repeat the statistics only to say that controlling behaviour, verbal abuse, psychological torture, financial abuse, undermining people's confidence as well as the more physical abuse and sexual abuse is not a new phenomenon. Sadly, there is not anything dramatically different in the statistics available.

I agree that some dangerous cultural changes are emerging in attempts being made to promote misogynistic and violent views which dehumanise women, symbolised by the likes of Julien Blanc, who has been refused a visa to the United Kingdom, and I believe he is looking to come to Ireland also. He is the individual who spearheads the Real Social Dynamics organisation which specialises in how to abuse women. Most people are abhorred by that. There has been a huge outcry. He was deported from Australia and was denied entry into Britain and what that reflects is that most people in society have moved on and recognise that there have been changes in attitudes. Not too long ago there was no such thing as rape within marriage. How could there be when a woman and children were the property of her husband? How could she ever deny her husband sex when he basically owned her? Now, that view is generations from the view of children and teenagers in our schools. It is not where young people are at now. People do not think like that any more.

Not too long ago people brought to court for murdering their spouse would put up the defence, "She was nagging me, Your Honour", and judges would go along with that by saying, "God help you to have to put up with a nagging wife". However, a nagging wife was somebody who was prepared to stand up for themselves. Those sexist generalisations are from only a decade or so ago. Some people are a bit slower than others and have not copped on. They might still have some of those attitudes but I believe most people do not. It is about the way we expected the family to shoulder the care of the elderly, the care of the young and take all the financial strain. The man was supposed to be the breadwinner, the hard person, and when real life meant that those norms could not be delivered upon bad things happened behind closed doors.

We need to create a society where all people are respected and supported as equals, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation and so on. The roots of domestic violence, which is predominantly against women but I will shortly make a point about men, is in a society which devalues women and does not appreciate them sufficiently economically or in other areas. Education and awareness is critical in that regard.

I will deal briefly with the issue of the rise in violence against men because this is a hidden area of domestic violence. For a long time it was not understood and people questioned domestic violence against a man, again displaying a certain discrimination in and of itself. The impression was given that if one said anything about domestic violence against men one was understating the scale of the problem and the fact that it is an issue which predominantly affects women. That is not good enough. Statistics were produced by abused men in Scotland where in 2012 and 2013 there were 60,000 domestic violence cases. Ten years before that approximately 10% of those cases involved men. Obviously, some of those would have been in a homosexual relationship but the figure now for male victims is approximately 18%, and it is something we have to examine.

I want to record my support for groups like AMEN, which does excellent work. It has done some very good projects in areas including Dublin 15 where it has a domestic violence forum where men and women who are the victims of domestic violence come together to discuss the issues.

I compliment the work of organisations like the Do or Die Foundation, a group of women who suffered a phenomenal amount of abuse at the hands of a violent male partner and have used that experience to help others by providing assistance to people who need support going to courts or trying to get out of a violent relationship.

I echo the call made by Women's Aid yesterday that if we are serious about dealing with this problem we must have a facility to issue emergency barring orders. It is not good enough to allow somebody in a violent situation wait until the courts open after the weekend. There must be a facility in place and the key to that is for the Government to look at the gardaí as that interface. A programme of training was being run in Templemore where gardaí were educated by people who deal with rape victims but it was axed because the funds were not available to operate it. We must reinstate that programme to educate not just our gardaí or those in our courts but everybody in society from the bottom up. Housing provision is key in that regard but we need to change the bigger picture also.

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