Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has an open mind on it. I am not reassured, however. He referred to Cabinet sub-committee B. It is unfortunate that it is a B committee rather than an A committee. Leaving that aside, the Taoiseach has not explained why he changed a Cabinet sub-committee that was formed as a result of the previous Taoiseach highlighting the importance of leadership, the need for something to drive the reduction and prevention of domestic violence, and the role of education in its prevention. He has not explained how he could allocate €5 million for spin and he has not explained the position on the €1 million. It is not academic research that SAFE Ireland is requesting. If the Taoiseach reads the documentation he will see that, after the research of 2002, those concerned followed up with qualitative research and found out the actual study helped the victims in coming forward.

It is beyond Cabinet B committees. It is time for leadership. It is time for the Taoiseach to come back and say he is setting a date and a timescale; that he is setting up a Cabinet committee that will drive the issue and that he is going to work with the organisations on the ground. Homelessness, for victims of domestic violence, has not been captured in the figures. Such victims have no place to go. I appeal to the men in suits that if it does not get them on the level of emotion and psychology, perhaps it might get to them on the level of the €2.5 billion cost to the economy per year. It makes sense to deal with it.

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