Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Both the Minister and Deputy Jan O'Sullivan referred to the Barnardos campaign, What's the Harm? It was a very powerful campaign. The following are quotes from the document, "I know it’s my fault when Mammy and Daddy fight. I can be naughty sometimes.", "No one told me it was a secret but I knew I was not supposed to tell." and "Daddy bit Mummy’s face. I was scared. I told him to stop."

The campaign contains some harrowing stories and Barnardos deserves to be commended on highlighting them. In 2015, more than 16,300 incidents of domestic violence against women disclosed during contacts with Women's Aid direct services. In the same year, 616 incidents of sexual abuse were disclosed to the services including 212 rapes. As the Minister is aware, children are victims in all this. A €4 million EU fund is available to each member state to raise awareness of domestic violence and the State has not drawn this money down. I ask that the Minister call on her colleagues to avail of the funding and ring fence it to highlight the plight of children as victims of domestic violence.

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