Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for a copy of his speech. It is helpful when it is set out in written form.

I will take up a theme raised by Deputy Bríd Smith. As I listened to the debate, I went to my office and came back to the Chamber because I thought my memory was not serving me right. I went back to the Kilkenny incest case and the report from 1993. One of the comments that stood out for me then was that the level of violence was not untypical for the area. There is a big warning sign there for us. When that report was published Kelly Fitzgerald died the same year and shortly after that there was what was known as the west of Ireland farmer case, until the brave family allowed its name to be used, with Sophia McColgan and her sisters. It has continued on - we have had the Roscommon case since and the recent O'Reilly case and so on - so we know. In case we do not know, Safe Ireland and Women's Aid have told us repeatedly, as have various international bodies. The Minister stands here today and acknowledges that we have a shortage of refuges. I welcome that but we know that. His responsibility today should be to tell us why he has not done something about that, why previous Governments have not done something about that, because we are utterly failing to protect our women. The Minister has made progress, which he has outlined. All the legislation has been absolutely forced by women's organisations on the ground and by our international obligations under the Istanbul Convention which we took four years to ratify and another four years to sign and we still have not fully implemented it. It is positive but I would not clap myself on the shoulder in regard to it. We have done it on the backs and the deaths of women. Earlier someone referred to the silent crisis but it is not silent. There was a time, which the book by Erin Pizzey, Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear, showed how domestic violence was dealt with, but that has gone. We know the figures. The 2002 SAVI figures show the prevalence of violence among children, boys, adults. We have fought solidly since then to get a second SAVI report but we still do not have SAVI 2.

The Minister mentioned various reports which are due. I welcome them all. If he does not get to it in my time, the Minister might send me a note on when the four reports will come to us: the SAVI 2 report, the Tom O'Malley report and the report started by Norah Gibbons. The Minister rightly paid tribute to her. There is a fourth report due on how victims are treated in the criminal justice system. Where is that one? When we look at the figures they are overwhelming, are they not? Almost one woman a month is murdered, the majority in their own home by a husband, partner or someone known to them. One would think that we would do something about that. The most basic thing we might do would be to provide a refuge, an asylum in the true sense of the word, where someone can go and get peace for a while and go back but we have not done that. It is the most basic requirement. There are nine counties without that most basic protection.

We stand here tonight and debate this when there is no need: the debate should be around the implementation of the recommendations by various organisations such as Safe Ireland and Women's Aid and our obligations under the Istanbul Convention and how we are, or are not, complying with them. The day before yesterday we read of the most recent woman murdered. A samurai sword and a cleaver were used. On the same page of the paper, I read of a man charged with threatening to kill his wife. The previous day we had heard of Mr. O'Reilly, and the Minister rightly praised his daughters for coming forward. Had I time, I could mention any amount of other cases. I repeat: the Kilkenny incest case, the Kelly Fitzgerald case, the Sophia McColgan case, the Roscommon case and the most recent one in Tuam that I have spent three years trying to secure the independent report of, and finally did, and so on. Surely at some stage we would deal with this, say we cannot go on like this and say we are not protecting women. It is costing at a conservative estimate €2.2 billion annually to the economy alone.

We should deal with this and stop the murdering of women, the abuse of women and the violence against women. It is for the good of society not only the women. That is the most pathetic statement I have made in this 15 minutes because it does not capture my sense of outrage at the way we treat women in this country for no good reason other than we do not take it seriously.

See this speech in context