Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In welcoming this proposal for a directive, I fully agree with the Minister that gender-based violence directed against a woman is because she is a woman. Such violence is a manifestation of historically unequal power relationships between men and women. We should bear that in mind every time we look at this subject because there are so many aspects of trying to address that problem in the sort of society that has grown up over hundreds of years of relying on women to reproduce the next generation at no cost, to do the care in the home at no cost and to devalue and undermine the role that women play in society in general. It is a legacy issue but it is one we can address with a lot of action.

For most people, it is disappointing that despite signing the Istanbul Convention in 2015 and ratifying it in 2019 when Deputy Flanagan was Minister, in 2022 we are still way behind in facilitating the spaces and supports required for women and children who are fleeing domestic violence.

I want to give a shout out in a proud way to two areas. One is Carlow, where our local councillor, Adrienne Wallace, has been doing wonderful campaigning work. Carlow is one of the nine counties that has no refuge. According to Councillor Wallace's figures, in the first nine months of 2021 it was revealed that 500 incidents of domestic violence were reported to the Garda in Carlow and Kilkenny. While there is a refuge in Kilkenny, it is totally inadequate as we can see from those figures. That can be repeated throughout the country. Based on the 2015 Istanbul Convention, we should have 472 refuge places but we only have 143.

There is an urgency in dealing with issues in the courts, such as the victim-blaming experiences that women have, being asked about their sexual histories, how much they had to drink, etc.. Even their private counselling notes are being used in cases. Therapy notes are not allowed to be used in the context of prosecutions relating to any other crime.

There is the outstanding issue other Deputies have mentioned, namely, the need for a proper, non-ethos-based sex education system. In the previous Dáil, we tabled a Bill on this matter. I believe other Bills are still waiting to be dealt with. It would be great if this initiative came from the Government, but we cannot afford to wait for it.

There is the important practical issue of having a safe home to live in. One of our councillors in Dublin City Council ,Hazel de Nortúin, has advised that in Ballyfermot alone, dozens of houses have been abandoned by women and children, particularly during the Covid crisis, because they had to get out. Some 70% of those women and children are in homeless services. The same is true across the country. We need to strengthen the legislation for local authorities to be able to intervene and decide that a family home is a family home and no abuser within that home should be allowed to stay but the family itself should stay. We need to do a considerable amount to raise awareness on this issue. We need supports that are localised. Local authorities should have liaison officers. In Dublin City Council we are trying to get a liaison officer who actually knows the families, deals with them and ensures that they have the wraparound services.

I want to finish on an issue I raised with the Taoiseach some time ago. Poland has very severe legislation that refuses abortion on the grounds of rape until a person goes to court and proves that they had actually been raped. That is impacting on hundreds of women who fled the war in Ukraine, who were raped and who are now living in Poland but cannot procure abortions. A Bill will be debated before the Polish Parliament today and on Thursday. On Thursday at 1 o'clock, we, the National Women's Council of Ireland, a number of feminist groups and others will be protesting outside the consular section of the Polish Embassy on Eden Quay. We are asking people to support that protest. The protest is against what the Polish Government is doing. The EU and justice ministers, including the Minister, Deputy McEntee, need to shout out about this. It is a war crime to rape a woman. There is no way they can prove that they were raped by Russian soldiers and, hence, there is no way they can procure abortions. This points to hypocrisy within the EU. This is happening under our noses as a consequence of a war crime. We should be shouting about it and really putting pressure on the various states to ensure that practice is ceased. Women should have proper access to reproductive care, but particularly in the case of the war crime of rape.

I welcome that this proposed directive is trying to strengthen the Istanbul Convention, which indicates that there have been weaknesses in how it has been implemented across the EU.

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