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

"I'd gone from being a strong, independent woman to this quivering wreck with no friends, no job, and no confidence. I felt so low, I searched the house for pills for an overdose". This is Siobhan’s story, and her story told and retold thousands of times across the land because domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is an epidemic in our society; it is an insidious form of abuse that takes place all around us.

The Victims’ Alliance has uncovered the leaking of thousands of personally-explicit images of Irish women, and some men, that have been shared on online forums without their knowledge. Some of the mega files uploaded contain as many as 11,000 images. This is a profound violation of women's and girls' rights and demonstrates again the inadequacy of Irish law in protecting them against such abuse. Some 18 months have passed since the previous Minister for Justice secured Government support to amend the Labour Party’s Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017. Deputy Brendan Howlin is to be commended on his work on this legislation. I have no doubt he is deeply frustrated, as are the rest of us, with the glacial pace at which this legislation is being progressed. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, has committed to prioritise this legislation but her predecessor made the same commitment in May 2019, so the Minister must do better.

Sexual harassment remains a constant in the lives of girls and women and, of course, the reality is that for so many the sexual harassment transitions to violence. Some 41% of Irish women know someone in their circle of family or friends who has experienced intimate partner violence and there are so many victims who are too young, too afraid or too ashamed to tell anybody about the abuse that they suffer. The Domestic Violence Act 2018 and Ireland’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention were critical milestones in this State’s armoury to combat domestic violence. Criminalising coercive control has sent a strong message to victims that controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour is not only unacceptable, it is unlawful. Completion of the divisional protective services units rollout is particularly welcome and An Garda Síochána is to be commended on Operation Faoiseamh. Last week’s conviction of an individual for offences contained within the Domestic Violence Act for the first time should give confidence to victims that the law does work. However, this confidence is routinely undermined by the reality that this Government, like previous administrations, continues to get the fundamentals wrong when it comes to protecting women.

Government is not listening to victims and is not listening to their advocates either. I am deeply alarmed by the refusal of this Government, like that of the last, to fully acknowledge, let alone address, the shortfall in refuge places wrap-around services and related resources. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth continues to claim that the State’s current provision of refuge places meets Ireland’s obligations under the Istanbul Convention. He argues that the State only needs to provide one refuge space for every 10,000 women in Ireland. This is not true. Ireland is the only European country to claim it only needs to provide the smaller number of refuge places and this is shameful. The shortage of refuge and accompanying resources has been raised in this Chamber year after year with a depressing predictability. Safe Ireland reported last week that between March and August this year 1,351 requests for refuge could not be met due to lack of space, and yet the Minister has confirmed that no allocation has been made by Tusla for additional refuge places either for this year or next. Of the €61 million allocation to Tusla for 2021 not one euro has been ring-fenced for domestic, sexual or gender-based violence. The CEO of Tusla has indicated a significant portion of the additional funding for next year is already spent covering the organisation’s existing deficit.

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