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

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom ár bhfeall a chur in iúl mar gheall ar dhúnmharú Ashling Murphy agus gealltanas a thabhairt go gcuirfear deireadh le foréigean in aghaidh na mban agus na gcailíní sa tír seo. Déanaim comhbhrón le clann agus cairde Ashling Murphy.

The shock waves throughout this country in the aftermath of yet another violent killing of a woman have already been mentioned. It is felt particularly in the wake of the repeal and the “Me Too” movements, where dozens or tens of thousands of young women throughout the country came out to express their anger, their sorrow and their dismay that this can happen in 2022. I think all of us females in this country, if we are honest, have at some stage our lives experienced a mix of harassment, abuse, sexual threats, aggression and misogyny. Some people have experienced it much more than others, such as the 244 women who have died at the hands of misogynist violence in this country.

It is a universal experience. We need now to own up to the universality of the oppression of women. It does not just stem from a country like Ireland. It is universal. The UN figures on violence against women and on the killing of women right across the globe are extraordinary. It comes from a system that oppresses one gender in favour of the other. It does so to use their labour - their place in the home still remains in our Constitution by the way - and their image and abuse of their image to make lots and lots of money through very violent, sexualised porn. For that reason, it is very important that the Taoiseach gives a commitment to changing the sex education regime for young boys and girls. Four years ago, the Bill that we tabled on objective sex education passed Second Stage. It is still sitting on Committee Stage. The key issue in that Bill is that it has to be non-ethos based. Some 92% of our schools are run by the Catholic Church and that church, we believe, is incapable of delivering the non-ethos-based sex education that is required.

The Istanbul Convention, which we signed up to, calls from one refuge place for domestic violence sufferers per 10,000 of the population. Currently, Dublin should have 135 refuge places, but it has 29. Cork, the Taoiseach’s own city, should have 54, but it has six. We are providing 29% of the Istanbul target. Those are two things that the Taoiseach could move on immediately. I heard him say that the Minister will take responsibility and that there will be cross-party co-operation. However, there are two immediate and urgent issues that we need to change. That is the provision of services for domestic violence and to move from a budget of €30 million given to Tusla to deal with this issue, against a budget of €88 million which was given to the greyhound and horse industry last year. It is appalling that the lives of women are less valued than the cruelty administered to dogs and horses.

I want to ask the Taoiseach how we can trust a Government which last year accepted a commissioned report and the mother and baby homes when people are protesting outside today saying that there is not enough redress for them and that they do not accept that the truth in that report reflects their experience. Yet, we are sitting in front of a Government which accepted that lock, stock and barrel. Again, it has let down a cohort of women who are victims of the legacy of systemic violence and abuse. I have two questions. How can we trust the Taoiseach? What will he do immediately about the budgets for refuge and sex education, which are utter changes in this country that are required?

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