Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this question from Deputy Kelleher. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality who is unavailable as she is attending the migration summit of EU and African leaders in Valletta.

It is some time since the Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report was published. This was a fundamental piece of research, involving telephone interviews with over 3,000 persons. Its results had a significant impact, both at the time of its publication in 2001 and since. SAVI showed that more than four in ten or 42% of women and over a quarter or 28% of men reported some form of sexual abuse or assault in their lifetime. Over one fifth or 23.6% of those who perpetrated sexual violence against women were intimate partners or ex-partners. For male victims, the main perpetrators were friends and acquaintances, at 42%.

Last year, the Department of Justice and Equality received a formal proposal from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in relation to the commissioning of an updated SAVI report. I welcome the Deputy's comments about the engagement of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, in these issues. A new study will show the prevalence of and attitudes to sexual violence and show how the experience has changed since SAVI.

The Minister has also secured additional funding in the budget for a national awareness-raising campaign in 2016, with a view to reducing the impact of such violence and to changing societal attitudes to such violence. In September of last year, the Minister met the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. As a result, an updated proposal was submitted by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Professor Hannah McGee of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The overall cost of a report is likely to be in the order of €1 million over three years. That proposal recognised that, given the significant budget, funding would be divided between four Departments, namely the Department of Justice and Equality but also the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs, Education and Skills, and Health. That is not to diminish ownership by one Minister but rather to acknowledge that this is an issue that spreads across many Departments.

The Minister has written to the relevant Ministers on this matter and expressed her support for the project. The responses received thus far make the viability of the project, as proposed, unlikely. However, the Department of Justice and Equality continues to investigate the financial feasibility and resource implications of undertaking this body of work at this time and to explore obligations with regard to requisite public procurement arrangements.

The Minister for Justice and Equality is strongly supportive of a second SAVI. The need for an evidence-based approach to policy-making is obvious. In that respect, a balance must also be struck between funding front-line services, including services provided by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, and funding research.

There are also a number of alternative sources of information to a second SAVI, and we do have available some data. The European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, FRA, study on the prevalence of violence against women was published last year.

The Minister for Justice and Equality clearly recognises the importance of research in this area. In that regard, she is continuing to explore possible approaches to identifying a ring-fenced funding stream in this area which could be used to meet public policy objectives as required.

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