Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The killing of Ashling Murphy was not just a brutal crime that shocked the whole nation. It was also an event that has highlighted the fear that exists among women in our society for their personal safety. The shocking killing of Ashling Murphy has enabled and encouraged women to talk openly about that fear. More important, it has forced society to listen to that fear. I regret to say that it should not have required the brutal murder of Ashling Murphy in order for the very real fears of women to get a thorough and appropriate response.

Before we start talking about advancing solutions, we have to identify the problem, which is that we continue to see in Ireland and elsewhere violence being perpetrated against women and women being fearful because of the threat of that violence. We need to recognise that this is a problem that is not to be measured simply by the number of women who are killed or go missing each year. It also has to be measured through other measurements. It should be measured by the low-level assaults perpetrated on women by men, most of which go unreported; it should be measured by the violence within the home, most of which goes unreported; it should be measured by the creepy harassment that women have to put up with from men, which is never really something that men are exposed to; and it should be measured by the intimidatory control that can be exerted on women through the physical strength some men have.

We also need to recognise that the violence perpetrated against women mostly happens when a man attacks a woman with whom he is in a relationship because he believes he should be able to assert control over that woman. It also happens when men who encounter a woman they do not know believe that the use of intimidation or violence is acceptable in order to control or impose themselves on that woman. Regrettably, some men, in Ireland and elsewhere, believe that women should be controlled and submissive to men and that violence is an acceptable way of achieving those aims. That requires a change in culture and attitude on the part of Irishmen.

We also need to acknowledge that while it is not just a legislative response that is required, a legislative and criminal justice response is appropriate. A small group of men in Irish society believe that it is acceptable to exert and impose violence upon women. If we are to deal with this legislatively, we need to start at a low level, where we come down very strongly on low-level harassment and low-level assaults and criminalise them to a greater extent than we have to date.

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