Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I send my deep condolences and those of the people of Tipperary to the family of Ashling Murphy and to her boyfriend Ryan. The horrific events that happened in Tullamore served as a wake-up call to all of us in this country about how the scourge of gender-based violence continues and the need for adequate measures to address it. This is why it is important that we have been discussing this matter at length in the House. Every one of us has a duty to ensure that no longer will violence against women slip off the agenda until another horrific event acts as the next wake-up call.

The truth is that gender-based violence is happening far more often than official records suggest. Everyday sexism, harassment and misogyny is systematic throughout society. It has been allowed to continue as in large part it has been swept under the carpet over the decades. This has led to a situation in which lives such as Ashling Murphy's are lost and women are subject to everyday limitations in terms of where they feel safe. This is not because women are afraid of their surroundings. It is because they are afraid of violent and abusive men.

Ashling was in a public place in broad daylight when she was attacked and her short promising life was taken from her. Practically every woman has a story to tell about how they have encountered sexism, harassment and misogyny. They are our daughters, sisters and mothers. As legislators we have responsibility on a number of levels to address this inequality in Irish society. Unfortunately this has not been done effectively to date. We need to address this through education, legal sanction, adequate investment in support services and a comprehensive set of wraparound supports for women. Overall, we need a zero tolerance approach to male violence against women and a political attitude to making these changes that does not cut corners or delay rolling them out.

As Women's Aid has pointed out, we need a policy change in education systems to ensure the casual sexism that girls and women experience is unacceptable. We need stronger legislation on street harassment and stronger enforcement of legislation on harassment in the workplace. We must also see an end to the fragmented approach taken towards gender-based violence. This approach is inefficient as it is spread across a number of Departments. Sinn Féin has called for the establishment of a domestic and gender-based violence policy. We have nine counties with no women's refuge. There has been no increase in the capacity of women's refuge centres for the past seven years. It is crazy that we are speaking about this and there has been no increase in the numbers.

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