Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish all my female colleagues and all the women I know a very happy International Women's Day. Today is about celebrating the role women play in our lives. We have heard about the very important role they play in so many aspects of our lives. People have spoken about very famous women who have gone before us. I am very fortunate to be able to speak about the most positive female role model I have had, and that is my mother. She worked full-time in teaching for 41 years of her life. She had 12 children and worked every day. She stayed up every night knitting clothes because she could not always afford to buy them. She made so many sacrifices in order to ensure that each of her children was gifted with the opportunity of education. When my sister, her daughter, passed away, she took on the caring role for four grandchildren for a period. I share this story today because I am immensely proud of my mother. I often use a phrase which is widely used and that is the "lottery of birth". I was very fortunate to be born into this family with such an inspirational woman as my mother. There are many people who are not so fortunate. We have a responsibility as legislators to stand up and ensure people who are not as fortunate in life get the same chances.

One thing Covid has done is shone a light on another pandemic, and that is the pandemic of domestic abuse. As a society we need the political system to address this and look at how the system responds to the needs of these particular vulnerable women. We know the Government strategy of zero tolerance is built on the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention. These are prevention, protection, prosecution and policy co-ordination. The €363 million that will give rise to a doubling of the number of refuge spaces and the establishment of the statutory agency for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence by the beginning of next year is very welcome.

I arranged to visit Esker House in Athlone last week, having forgotten that International Women's Day was coming up. I met the management team. They are passionate dedicated women who are helping and empowering other women every day of the week. They spoke about the 11 other staff members working with them. The centre provides a refuge, a day service and a service for children and young people. It was a very informative meeting, and I learned a lot. The women there said that bringing women and children into refuges is not the answer. Clearly, it has a very important role to play at a particular time, and it is a critical intervention at a particular time, but they spoke about wraparound services and putting in place the necessary supports. Prevention is far better than cure.

There is also the long-term economic gain if we make the right interventions at an early stage. We will save long-term in areas of mental health, addiction, the justice system, the Courts Service and the Prison Service. I was very pleased to hear them speaking about businesses coming to them to ask for domestic violence awareness on how to spot women in their work environments that might be under coercion or suffering some type of abuse.

In a number of weeks' time, senior executives from Tusla will meet Deputies and Oireachtas Members from Dublin and mid-Leinster. I look forward to having a very frank and open debate. In certain instances good work is being done but in certain other instances we are failing vulnerable people very badly.

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