Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I do not believe it is right that the advertising campaign is putting the emphasis on relatives and friends. There should be an emphasis on prevention. The campaign is not aimed, as it should be, at the men who commit most domestic violence. I do not normally listen to "Liveline", but when I did so recently I heard a woman making an excellent point about her continual efforts to intervene to help a women living next door to her. There were visible examples that violence had been committed against this woman. When the "Liveline" caller phoned gardaí, they said they could not do anything unless the victim made a complaint. This has been going on for decades. I refer to the attitude of the Garda. Not one visit was made to the House by gardaí. The woman who spoke on "Liveline" got no help when she tried to intervene on several occasions by ringing the Garda. The "What Would You Do?" campaign has to be backed up with extra resources for those who actually decide to do something.

We need extra staff in the Garda to deal with this and we need extra refuges. I have already highlighted the total inadequacy of the number of refuge places. No emergency barring orders exist in this country. There are no barring orders for non-co-habiting couples, which is a startling point. There are serious deficits in the structural treatment of violence against women and they need to be addressed. I believe the campaign should be re-examined.

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