Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have an issue with how women are treated in this country. Women's Aid, the organisation that supports women and families affected by domestic violence, produced its report on Monday. What it tells us is shocking. We do not just need Women's Aid to produce statistics for domestic violence and abuse, we also need the State, as promised, to do so. Some 16 years after the first report on sexual abuse and violence in Ireland was commissioned, we still do not have a proper answer from the Taoiseach, his Department or the Department of Justice and Equality as to when we will hear from the Department about a second sexual abuse and violence in Ireland, SAVI, report. It is long overdue. Over 30% of women reported to Women's Aid that they had found the Garda unhelpful. Women's Aid clearly stated and showed statistically how the housing crisis was having a major impact on women and families in not being able to leave abusive and violent situations because they had nowhere to go. Surely, there must be urgency in terms of the need for a second report 16 years on, rather than having to repeatedly come back to ask the Taoiseach when we will have it.

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