Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not welcome the opportunity to talk again. "Welcome" does not seem the right word. I do welcome the directive and the fact we are opting into it. I welcome the fact that opting in will give us a voice in the final drafting of the directive. It will do away with the gap that exists in respect of effective legislation. There is a patchwork of legal instruments in place at present. There are positive things in the directive and I have no difficulty supporting it. I do, however, have a little difficulty as a result of my cynicism at this point. That is a luxury I cannot have as a politician because one stands here to tell people that things can be done and things can change.

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive speech which set out much of the legislative background. After the UK's departure, it is significant that we are the sole country with an Article 21 protocol. I thank the Minister for all of that. I take exception to the portion of her speech in which she stated, "However, shifts in long-held mindsets and changes in behaviours do not occur over weeks, or even months, and we need to continue to work as hard as possible to see real changes happen." We did not ask for anything to happen overnight. I have repeatedly referred to the task force from a quarter of a century ago when former Deputy Eithne FitzGerald was the relevant Minister of State. The task force produced an excellent report that highlighted all the things that needed to be done and how they should be done. Unfortunately, it never happened. I recognise the Minister's bona fidesand she has confirmed that repeatedly in the Dáil. That report was produced in 1997, which was 20 years after the first refuge came into being in Ireland as a result of an enormous struggle by women on the ground. None of the services for women suffering domestic violence or gender-based violence has ever been proactive. They have come as a result of women, children and good men, and their suffering.

The task force that was established in 1997, which is a quarter of a century ago, was supposed to change everything. It set out that a strategy was needed. The one recommendation that jumps out to me is that programmes for violent men that confront violent behaviour must be developed and expanded. That was stated a quarter of a century ago. That is one of the major aspects with which we have not even begun to deal. I have mentioned before in the Dáil the collaborative effort between the Rape Crisis Centre and the Manuela Programme in Galway to roll out to the schools an educational project. I gave the Minister some details of that and I am not sure what follow up there has been in that regard.

I apologise for my cynicism but it is difficult because following on from that report, many promises were given. There were three items, part of a trinity, of which the audit of interdepartmental structures was one part. We finally got that audit and it identified how fragmented the services had been. The second national strategy ran from 2016 to 2021. The Department of Justice's audit of structures found a lack of effective oversight of implementation of the second strategy, a fragmented approach and a lack of action on decades of recommendations. Oversight responsibility was held by an interdepartmental senior officials group which is nominally accountable to the Cabinet but in practice has never reported. That was the second strategy. I could outline many other criticisms.

Now we have two parts of the trinity, namely, the general audit I have mentioned and the audit on structures. We are still waiting for the third national strategy. It was due at the end of 2021. That was changed at the end of March and we were told it was coming within a few weeks. As each Deputy asked, we were told it was coming soon. We are still told that is the case. If the Minister can be bluntly honest with us, what is the delay in producing the strategy? We need to know that before we even begin to talk about the implementation of the strategy. What is causing the delay six months after the end of the other strategy? We must remember the history involved and the serious crimes that are being perpetrated on a daily basis against women and children; violence that is also being watched by children.

If I am to have trust in the Minister, and I told her I would work with her, then words have to mean something. When will the strategy be published? What has caused the delay?

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