Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I extend a very warm welcome home to Irish citizen and fellow Dubliner, Ibrahim Halawa. I am sure everybody will join me in extending to him and his family our warmest wishes as he readjusts to life back home. Cead míle fáilte ar ais. Fáilte abhaile Ibrahim.

I wish to raise the refusal of the Government to provide necessary funding to produce up-to-date research regarding the sexual abuse and violence in Ireland, SAVI, report. This report, which documented the impact of sexual violence on the Irish population is now 15 years old and so many aspects of the 2002 research are now outdated. The importance of updating this research cannot be overstated. Ms Noeleen Blackwell of the Dublin Rape Crisis Network has said that the Government "is in a situation where decisions are being made about how to combat sexual violence in Ireland which are based on evidence that is so out of date that it might as well be from Dickens".

This matter was raised last week by our colleague Teachta Catherine Connolly. At that time, the Taoiseach, while professing to have an open mind on the subject, said that Government Departments have expressed a preference for the money to be directed into services rather than into funding new research. He also said: "Departments are satisfied with the statistics and the information that they have." The Department of Justice and Equality cited the Rape Crisis Network as the source of these statistics yet that organisation has clearly stated that it is no longer able to publish such statistics because of funding cuts. This was a cynical attempt on the part of An Taoiseach to pit two vital pillars of combating sexual violence against each other. It should not be a case of research or services. The message should not be that we can have one or the other because we clearly need both. In the absence of up-to-date information, how can we be certain that services are being properly allocated?

The need to fund a new report is not without its supporters within the Government. I understand that members of Cabinet were asked to support the funding of a new report. I know that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, has stated that the Government should fund the new study and that the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Fitzgerald, has said that it is something the Government should consider. However, it seems that all of this has fallen on deaf ears. At the Fine Gael presidential dinner last Saturday night, the Taoiseach's open mind had closed shut.

He confirmed that the Government would not fund a new report and said the money would instead go on legal aid. In so doing, he has again played the needs of research and services off against each other. Both are required and should be properly funded. This is about choices. It would cost €1 million to produce this report. Five such reports could be produced for the cost of the Taoiseach's vanity project, the now infamous strategic communications unit. It is difficult to imagine that the Government could not find the money if it were so minded. I ask the Minister to come to his senses and commit to funding a new report.

See this speech in context