Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Farrell is taking his time but I will try not to go over my allocation. I welcome the opportunity to speak to this important matter. I used some time last week during the Order of Business to raise related matters. I welcome the Minister's commitment to the important elements of developing stand-alone legislation related to stalking and non-fatal strangulation.

Much has been said and I just want to add one or two elements to the discussion. Given the weekend just gone by was the anniversary of the murder of Ms Urantsetseg Tserendorj. Deputy Hourigan and I, along with others, attended a memorial ceremony and spoke with the family afterwards. This highlights the vulnerable position of many migrant women in this country with regard to violence, and they are over-represented in the femicide statistics. There have been warnings that we have been failing to reach vulnerable migrant women so it is important that in the forthcoming strategy and the work we do, we should think about these vulnerable women, who may have difficulties arising from their migration status, language and literacy difficulties. They may have difficulty accessing online services. This applies not just to migrant women but many other women fall into those categories because of poverty or literacy issues. We need to think about all women but especially these vulnerable women, and we must reach out to them.

Last night, I watched the RTÉ documentary on the Kerry babies case and what struck me was the structural violence often inflicted on mná na hÉireann. Anyone watching the show last night would have seen that. The Kerry babies case is not recent news but the structural violence and mindset that informed that case is still very much around. It is something of which we must be conscious and one of the ways to address it is certainly to get more women elected and in here talking about such matters so it is not just me and my male colleagues doing it. We should be able to hear directly from women.

We must ensure the legislation we pass in here does not contribute to structural violence. I looked at this morning's report from Amnesty International on the violence suffered by sex workers and the conditions they face. They are asking that we keep them safe. There is also the question of human trafficking. We have tumbled from tier 1 to tier 2 to now being on the tier 2 watch list, according to the US State Department Trafficking in Persons report for 2021. Again, this is an example of structural violence we are not addressing. As well as a cultural shift and personal responsibility, we, as legislators, have a special responsibility relating to those structural elements to ensure we are not contributing to the problem with the legislation we pass.

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