Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our nation's attention is currently focused on violence against women due to the horrific murder of Ashling Murphy. I know that all our thoughts are with her family and loved ones. Sadly, however, this is only the most recent violent attack against a woman to horrify our nation. We have a long and shameful history regarding the treatment of women and girls in this State. We must be under no illusion that this history has had an impact on the deeply ingrained misogynistic abuse directed towards women. We see it in the way that women and girls were treated in Magdalen laundries; in the way women's healthcare is cast aside; in the way women's bodies, tone, image and behaviour are strictly policed in public discourse; in the way women have been forced to travel to get abortions; in the way our bodily autonomy has been denied to us by this State; in the culture of shame that puts the burden on us to talk about the violence we have experienced in hushed tones; and in the immediate and severe backlash and victim blaming if we dare to speak out.

We know that 90% of sexual assault takes place within relationships and that we do not have adequate services in place to support survivors of domestic abuse. This includes refuge space, but it is broader than that. I have been contacted by women who are trying to get out of their current relationships but there are economic factors which severely restrict their ability to keep themselves and their children safe. It is so difficult for any person to get away from their abuser but for women in poverty, women whose abusers control their finances and women who are isolated socially, it is all the more difficult.

In the past week, I have often thought about Manuela Riedo, who was raped and murdered in Galway. Many aspects of Ashling's case reminded me of that horrible attack. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis. Sine Manuela's murder, 105 women have lost their lives in Ireland. We cannot wait for another woman's murder to tackle the culture of misogyny and put policies in place to counteract it.

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