Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to speak for Labour in the debate on this opt-in and I welcome the opportunity to do so. As we know, it has now been just over three months since the Commission published the proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. That was on International Women's Day and, of course, it is now midsummer. It is very welcome to see this proposal. Preparations have been extensive and have included stakeholder consultation and a detailed impact assessment report. The purpose of the initiative to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence is to combat sexual, domestic and gender-based violence, to ensure the effective prevention of such violence and to ensure that sexual harassment and cyberviolence with cross-border dimensions are addressed effectively.

What is most remarkable is that, as the Minister has said herself, there is no EU legislation that comprehensively addresses gender-based violence and domestic violence and that this directive will be the first to address specifically this type of violence. It is remarkable that is still the case in 2022. I suppose it reflects the reality that, for a long time, domestic violence was not taken as seriously as other forms of violence within the criminal justice system not just in Ireland but elsewhere. Many of us who have practised criminal law over the years will recall phrases like "It was just a domestic" being used to belittle or diminish the significance of the harm caused. I have worked for years with Women's Aid, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Safe Ireland and other great organisations on the front line that are providing services for survivors and victims. When speaking with survivors and victims, it is evident that, for far too long, there has been a culture in which violence against women and children in the home has been essentially tolerated and certainly not tackled with the urgency required.

In recent years, with the #MeToo movement and the move against sexual harassment with the horrific murder of Ashling Murphy and the outcry around the country earlier this year, we have seen an understanding and a renewed intent to ensure that this sort of violence will be addressed effectively. Measures have been taken. I am thinking of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 and the Domestic Violence Act 2018. These were major reforming legislation. We also passed legislation to criminalise female genital mutilation on foot of a Private Member's Bill I brought forward. All of these things were done in the last few years and have greatly improved the position of survivors. I am proud to be the chairperson of the Joint Committee on Gender Equality. I am grateful to the Minister for her engagement with the committee, particularly on recommendations 37 to 41 of the Citizens' Assembly, which seek to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The assembly recommended that, among other things, all Government action to prevent such violence should be co-ordinated by a Cabinet Minister with direct responsibility for a national strategy. It is therefore very welcome indeed that the Minister has taken that on and is that Cabinet Minister.

Of course, we are very anxious to see the publication of the imminent third national strategy, which has been promised for some months. We had hoped it would be with our committee in March or April so that we would be able to review it. We certainly hope it will be published imminently. The Minister might be able to say precisely when because, clearly, it is crucial if we are to build on the other improvements and measures. I acknowledge the welcome that stakeholders have given to Supporting A Victim's Journey and to other initiatives like the Still Here campaign the Minister referenced. However, we need to see the publication of that strategy and the resourcing and funding of refuges. All of us are very conscious that there are nine counties in Ireland where there is no refuge. Everywhere in the country I have been in recent months, I have heard about the scarcity of places and resources for those seeking to flee violence in the home.

The other question we all have to ask in a debate like this is a more fundamental question about tackling a culture in which it is still the women and children who typically have to flee the home while the perpetrators of so-called domestic violence remain there. I recall a justice committee hearing on domestic violence many years ago where a survivor disclosed the abuse he had suffered as a child and asked in anguish why it was that women and children were still forced to flee and why we could not see the perpetrator removed from the home. That would require a fundamental shift in culture but it is necessary.

We met today with an Australian Labor adviser, Stephen Donnelly. He told us about the emphasis Labor in the state of Victoria puts on violence in the home. They call it family violence rather than domestic violence to emphasise the more human side of it and that this is violence of the most intimate nature perpetrated within the home and usually within the family. The key message Labor had to tackle this was that, if this sort of violence was perpetrated against women and children by strange men, there would be an urgent, immediate and effective set of measures implemented to tackle it and stop it happening. The Minister spoke about zero tolerance. I entirely agree with her. We must bring a zero-tolerance approach to bear and see this as the deeply harmful and deeply destructive behaviour that it is. We must move swiftly to see the publication of the national strategy and measures taken to address this horrific sort of violence against women and children.

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