Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not welcome this opportunity because taking part in statements on domestic violence is disturbing and upsetting. Let me start in a positive manner. I welcome the progress. I welcome the Domestic Violence Act 2018 that introduced a new offence and extended the range for barring orders; the Garda divisional protective services units and note they are being rolled out; and the Minister's statement that domestic violence is a priority. Then I look at his speech overall, which runs to the three pages of small print with a lot of content, and consider what is in it and what is left out. I am afraid the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is present to take my contribution. The Minister talked about domestic violence being a scourge on our society. That might explain why the prevalence of domestic violence has remained so high. I would not use the word "scourge". Domestic violence is abuse and a crime. The manner in which we have dealt with it as a society is wrong. We make our statements in the context of the 16 days of action. Can the Minister of State imagine that we need to have 16 days of action year after year, nationally and internationally, to bring home the point that women are not safe, especially in their own homes? The 16 days finished yesterday. I make this contribution in the context of a Minister telling us he is committed, although his speech contains no reference at all to the lack of refuges. There is no mention of the fact that we are supposed to have 472 refuge spaces but there are only 141. I wish we did not need any of them but according to international data and figures, we require 472 refuge spaces to allow women and children to go to a place of safety, yet we have 141.

I will turn to the estimated annual economic cost. I like to do this maybe to appeal to the male mentality more than the female, although I do not mean to be disrespectful, in the hope that figures might grasp the Deputies. The estimated annual cost of domestic violence to the economy is €2.2 billion based on EU estimated costs for each member state in respect of health bills, policing, loss of productivity and court procedures. However, Safe Ireland and NUIG in collaborative research have said that the estimated cost of domestic violence is far greater. The research is currently examining the economic and social costs of domestic violence across three phases of a survivor's journey from living with the abusive relationship to relocation and recovery. Dr. Caroline Forde, a researcher at the Centre for Global Women's Studies in NUI Galway, stated:

Domestic violence is more than a human rights violation and public health issue. By exploring its wider economic and social impact, we highlight the often invisible or ignored consequences for individuals, households, the community and society.

I recall Erin Pizzey's book, Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear, which left a lasting impression on me. That was more than 40 years ago and women are still screaming quietly to prevent the neighbours hearing, unfortunately. On 8 May of this year the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs was told that refuges are turning away more women and children than they are accommodating. Margaret Martin, executive director of Women's Aid, stated that 52% of women and children - I doubt that figure so I will have to check it - who turn up to women's refuges are turned away. They are told they are full. The fact that they have fled the abusive partner puts them at even more risk. Noeline Blackwell, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, reports an explosion in demand for the centre's therapeutic services. It is not just a regular increase. The number of people who are disclosing sexual violence and seeking the treatment they need has increased enormously. The Garda figures are seriously deficient and problematic. We know this from their appearances at various committees. Misclassification of some domestic crimes has left victims of abuse at risk of being attacked again. In total from 2003 to May 2017, there were 89 additional homicides that had not been counted in official Garda figures. The CSO is publishing Garda crime figures under reservation, with the director general of the office telling us at the Committee of Public Accounts that the doubts around those statistics will not be lifted next year or in all likelihood the year after that. We are talking about a number of years. Some 10,782 women and 2,572 children received support from domestic violence services in 2018. I have to quote the figure for those who were turned away - 3,256 requests - because the refuges were full.

I do not know how any Minister can come in here and tell us he is making it a priority, which I want to welcome, without basing it on fact or evidence and without going through some of the gaps that exist on the ground and without looking at homelessness. Women who do get places in refuges are not even included in the homeless figures. I have a great difficulty with that. I also have a great difficulty with many Ministers coming in making statements and not backing them up. Then we are subjected to Science Foundation Ireland in the audiovisual room, who put an extraordinary and proper emphasis on evidence-based policy. The Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland, SAVI, report of 2001 or 2002 is frightening as it highlights the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence. We begged and appealed and did everything possible for the past three and a half years to get the Government to review that and bring it up to date. Finally we succeeded in a piecemeal fashion and the up-to-date report is going to come at some stage in the future - I think in 2025. We must look at the figures on the ground and the cost on a human level and on an economic level and realise that we need to deal with it and that it makes sense to deal with it in a more efficient and effective way. I would be with the Minister if he had said "Look, we realise that", but we got three pages of a speech that tells us the Government has approved this legislation and that legislation without looking at the operation on the ground or listening to Safe Ireland and all of the other organisations. I will finish with Galway, where we have Domestic Violence Response, DVR, in Oughterard doing sterling work and struggling on the ground with a tiny funding. A report commissioned by Tusla was never published. Through parliamentary questions, I have learned it might be published some time in the new year. If the Government wants to create trust and an environment where we can work together, the facts have to come out. The organisations on the ground are struggling to survive and without them, we would not even have the services that we have.

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