Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My condolences to the parents, family and friends of the late Ashling Murphy. The horrendous murder of Ashling has hit every man, woman and child in Ireland. As a father of two daughters, they should, as should my son, walk the streets and lovely country walks in the safety that should exist in this country for all. As a country, we need to do better. We need to put a better system in place. We need better safeguarding for victims of violence. We need harsher prison sentences. We all saw the case where a family - a father, a mother, two uncles and an aunt - were sentenced for their abhorrent crimes against their own children, nieces and nephews. Their sentences seemed very light in comparison to the crimes that were committed. In the words of the judge, the parents had engaged in the most profound breach of trust a human being can commit against their children so surely 15 years and nine years is not enough.

We also need cases where children and women are at risk to be expedited through the courts. We cannot have women and children living in fear. A priority needs to be put in place for cases where women and children are at significant risk. Last week, I was told of a case like this in west Cork where the case needs to be heard but it will not be heard until late 2023. That is not good enough. It is of the utmost importance that these cases are pushed up the ladder and dealt with as a priority.

We also need to look at our legal system in a far deeper manner than we have been doing for many years now. Many women come to my office every week who have legally agreed maintenance in a separation but, in many cases, the father of the child or children stops paying maintenance. In its own right, this is another form of abuse; it is financial abuse. The law should be the law. If it is agreed to pay maintenance, it should be paid, or dealt with severely by the courts if not paid. It should be dealt with in weeks, not, as in some cases, left to be dealt with in years, leaving mothers and children hungry at the end of every week due to some men's efforts to control women. Maintenance must be paid at a set amount and there should be no stress for the parent.

In my humble opinion in this discussion overall, we need to give out harsher sentences and make people realise that Ireland is not a place where people who are born here or come to live here can murder someone and get away with it.

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