Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for asking the question. The Government's zero tolerance strategy, published last year, is an ambitious five-year programme of reform aimed at achieving a society which does not accept, in any way, shape or form, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence or, crucially, the attitudes which underpin it. Built on the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention, the strategy was accompanied by an implementation plan which runs to the end of this year, setting out 144 detailed actions assigned to various Departments and agencies. Some of the key elements of the strategy, as the Deputy knows, include the establishment of a statutory DSGBV agency. There is an agency in law to drive forward the agenda and co-ordinate in respect of this issue. The strategy also includes the doubling of the number of refuge places to 280 during its lifetime, an expansion of supports for victims and the strengthening legislative provisions. A number of Bills are going through these Houses as we speak and there will be more between now and the summer recess to advance that cause. The strategy will also work to raise awareness of DSGBV and the supports available. The Deputy will be aware, as I hope the country at large is, of the number of public awareness campaigns to raise awareness of these issues.

In March, I published the general scheme of the Bill to establish the new agency and my intention is that it will be established and operational in January next year. The Joint Committee on Justice undertook pre-legislative scrutiny today and I look forward to its report. Under budget 2023, an extra €9 million was secured for combatting DSGBV. That was an unprecedented increase of 22%.

Taken together with our ambitious but deliverable plans for the development of refuge accommodation, I am confident that the investment needed to implement in full this €363 million strategy will make a real and lasting impact on the experience of victims of DSGBV. I am pleased to say that we have already made significant progress on the legislative front since the publication of the strategy, with measures progressing to double the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, introduce stand-alone offences for stalking and non-fatal strangulation, and introduce a new sexual offences Bill to update the law around consent and provide new supports for victims.

I also recently welcomed the enactment of legislation which will improve the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community, including an update of the rule around the sex offenders register.

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