Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The implementation plan is crucial. Members of Government parties, the Opposition and the sector will rightly hold the Department and the agency to account on that. The plan shows a clear commitment to set out quarter by quarter exactly what is intended to be delivered by each Department. That is the only way to ensure implementation on a cross-government basis.

What the Minister said about education and the relationships and sexuality education programme is very important. It is core to this. Family law reform is also central to the issue. I have spoken to many different people who are experiencing ongoing controlling behaviours through the court processes. One of the ultimate abuses is to use one of the processes of the State against a partner or former partner to continue to exert control. It is one of the first issues I spoke about in the Dáil, and it goes on and on. It is a core part of this strategy. We have much improved the victim experience in court, but we have more to do. The crucial issue occurs before we get to court.

As the Minister indicated, it is about being believed. That is one side of the coin. All of us, including me, have laughed off comments and experiences. The only reason we did so was that the alternative was that we would not get a hearing, would not be believed or would not be taken seriously. It is simply easier to laugh off these things. That is why the zero tolerance approach is so important.

The video that was shown at the launch was exceptional. I hope it is pushed out more broadly because it really speaks to the experience of having a hand placed in appropriately on the shoulder or lower back and how that makes a person feel smaller. We know how difficult it is for a woman in that context to turn away or say something and to try not to disrupt the dynamic that is going on around her, despite it not being in any way her fault. It is about all of those small things. I hope everybody learned a great deal about that over the past two years. We have much more to do. I hope the video can get a much broader hearing. I know there is funding in the package to try to do exactly that public awareness piece.

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