Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate today. First, I would like to convey my deepest condolences to the family of Ashling Murphy, her boyfriend, her school community and the wider community in which she played such an active and important role.

Her needless death has touched everybody in many ways. It has raised many questions that need to be addressed: about our justice system; about gender-based violence; about women's safety; and about men and their attitudes towards women.

Over the course of this debate, we have heard from many female colleagues about their own experiences. It brings home to me that this issue affects us all. We all have a responsibility to ensure that the violent death of Ashling and the deaths of 244 other women who have died violently since 1996 result in changes being made that will ensure society becomes a safe place for women. The bottom line is that we need to have an attitude of zero tolerance when it comes to violence against women.

In my opinion this is simply not just a criminal justice issue. Preventing abusive behaviour towards women will require the eradication of certain social and cultural attitudes held by many men which contribute to women feeling unsafe. I agree with the Taoiseach when he stated that we need a sea change in culture and attitude in our society. As men we need to listen to women. Misogyny is not acceptable and needs to be eliminated from our society. To put a stop to violence and abuse towards women in Irish society we must eradicate the societal and cultural attitudes that make women feel unsafe and threatened. To do this requires a change in our cultural attitudes so that we are not all bystanders and look the other way when we see behaviour that is not acceptable to women. We must call it out for what it is. It must be no longer ignored. The bottom line is that all women bar none have a right to be safe no matter where they are or what they are doing. We all have a responsibility in this, not only society but also Government. This terrible tragedy must bring about real change.

We need to have adequate services that allow women to reach out when they are victims of domestic violence. It is absolutely wrong that nine counties have no women's refuge centre. As has been pointed out here, Government funding has been cut in many instances. This is wrong and must be corrected as a matter of urgency. Women in desperate need of help must be supported. We must ensure that at the very least every rape crisis centre and refuge centre in the country is fully funded.

The Istanbul convention standard requires that at the very least we must have one refuge space per 10,000 people. The Government must immediately put in place measures to ensure that at the very least we comply with this convention.

We also need to look at our justice system and how it deals with sexual assault and violence. The statistics are not very encouraging. There is significant under-reporting of sexual assault and violence, and detection rates are as low as 10%, the lowest in any of the categories recorded. We need to ask ourselves why this is the case. There must be reforms in this area. Women must feel safe when reporting these terrible crimes and supported in doing so. It must be remembered that they are the victims in these circumstances.

Another area that needs to be addressed is the type of violence that is played out on our television screens almost daily. I have spoken on this before and made the point that children are now seeing this type of violence nearly as normal behaviour. They are seeing it on television, on the Internet and on their phones. It is as though this violent behaviour is part of normal day-to-day life. This is where education needs to step in. It must be shown that violence is not normal and is not part of day-to-day life. It should never be glamorised. Children having easy access to porn is another issue that needs to be addressed. Children are growing up seeing porn as normal behaviour. Again, we need to challenge this and show that it is not real life.

Aggression and bullying on social media also need to be addressed. Abuse online is getting nastier all the time. We need to tackle this. Healthy debate is good but when it starts to get nasty, personal, insulting and threatening then it becomes an issue. Many female colleagues have in the past week described the abuse they receive online, which is not acceptable. Education is the key to eradicating this sort of behaviour. We must show our younger generation that this type of behaviour is not acceptable and that it is wrong. We need to demonstrate the damage it can cause.

Once and for all we must address the issue of gender-based violence. It starts with us as legislators, we must have legislation that is fit for purpose. Men must also address issues relating to misogyny. We must have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to violence against women.

The tragic and needless death of Ashling was a terrible tragedy and must never be forgotten. It is our responsibility as a society to ensure this marks a point in time where we all say enough is enough. Violence against women must end.

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