Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The answer is "yes". Both I and the Government are committed to preventing and addressing sexual violence in Ireland. It is extremely important to me but, more important, to victims of this violence that policy must be effective, driven by accurate, up to date, reliable data. Knowledge and information are essential to making effective policies to prevent and combat sexual violence.

The Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland, SAVI, report was formative research in this area and its results had a significant impact on policy at the time of its publication in 2002 and since.

The Government decided to examine what data is available for the development of policy in this particularly sensitive area and to assess if there were gaps in the data available for policy formulation. This work was undertaken by a scoping group which considered the availability of data and made recommendations on the format of a study to identify the prevalence of sexual abuse and violence in Ireland today and emerging trends. The group completed a draft report and submitted it to my office for consideration in April.

A further piece of technical legal work is now being completed so that proposals can be brought to Cabinet in the coming weeks.

As the Deputy will appreciate I am constrained from commenting further as proposals have yet to be brought to Government, but I can assure the Deputy that moneys for the undertaking of work have been made available next year. Once the report has been considered by Government, I intend to make an announcement to outline the way forward on this issue and details of the available budget will also be provided.

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