Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We welcome the CSO sexual violence survey. It is a sobering reminder of the importance of the third national strategy on DSGBV. The importance of a report such as this, based on diverse sources, cannot be overstated. The CSO is to be commended on the report which, despite its disturbing facts, is a welcome development. I was taken particularly by what the Minister, Deputy Harris, said about the statistics on the number of people who have been raped in this country, 18% of women and 3% of men. For so long, the biggest road block for victims has been the lack of reporting as well as being met with silence or disbelief or even denial. It came up a lot on the justice committee that we were dealing with a paucity of statistics compared to what they have in other jurisdictions. The lack of information led to a negative cycle of powerlessness, withdrawal and depression for so many victims. The colossal task of changing these attitudes is starting to progress. The survey is one more aspect of this. As politicians, we cannot claim now to be ignorant or in the dark about the scale and depth of the issue.

It is worth exploring some of the headline figures to ensure they are on the record. The most obvious place to start is where the representatives from the Government started, with the fact that 52% of women reported experiencing sexual violence in their lifetime, with the figure being 28% for men. The fact that the majority of sexual abuse victims are women, and the majority of women have experienced sexual violence, demonstrates the gendered nature of violence in our society. Many women in recent years deserve praise for speaking out. There are many stories out there that we have not heard yet of defiance, strength and overcoming the odds. As legislators, it is our job to ensure that these obstacles to justice are removed and understanding the issue in full is the first step in this battle. While the majority of perpetrators of sexual violence are men, in my view we also need to hear more from and about the 28% of men who have experienced sexual violence, which is a not insignificant number. Abuse and suffering abuse are wrongfully associated with being weak or meek in some way and these are attributes not considered to be manly or macho. The report states that the 53% of women who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime were more likely to have told someone compared to men, at only 34%. Both figures need to change. We are often told a man should be strong and not show weakness but we have seen this begin to change. I give credit to the consent education campaign of the Department of Justice, which depicts men as victims as well as perpetrators. We need to end the idea that male victims could have stopped their own abuse or are somehow not deserving of justice. I know the Department will be working in the short term with one of the larger sporting agencies to promote a campaign. They have already dealt with one on combating racism. This is the next step which is coming shortly. I welcome that.

As we build a better understanding of sexual violence, we need to ask how we can combat it. Better statistics on sexual violence must be our starting point. We currently lag significantly behind the United Kingdom when it comes to this. The gathering of data over there includes information on age, gender, ethnicity and so many other areas. I suspect that if we keep these data on a more regular basis, we will quickly learn the nature of sexual violence in the State and be in a better position to address it. It is worth noting that the DPP has asked for more resources for the gathering of data and NGOs have long been calling for it to be implemented.

The Istanbul Convention needs to be respected. The State's work in this area is currently under scrutiny by GREVIO, the independent expert body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the convention. A state visit has already been carried out and the report is due soon. It is hard to imagine that there will not be serious issues raised in the report, especially as we are working now only to cover multiple counties where there is poor or no provision of refuge space. I think there are nine counties out of the 26 in which there is no refuge space. I recently met with Catherine Casey from Adapt in Tralee. She says that they had 39 women or families admitted last year but space was refused to 29 separate women during that time. They need additional refuge spaces. While they are not currently on the priority list, I am agreeing with her call that Tralee should be included. On resourcing and delivery, as was mentioned by the Minister and the Minister of State earlier, the third national strategy on DSGBV is most important including for the creation of material to reach migrant communities. The third strategy must press for the rights of migrant women, who are often outside of the loop.

Within the courts and judicial system, much work also needs to be completed. The Minister, Deputy Harris, laid out the importance of preventing defendants who are lay litigants from cross-examining vulnerable victims. We want to avoid further traumatisation while at the same time protecting constitutional rights for a fair trial. As the Minister said, it is a huge piece of work around the change in attitudes. A National Women's Council report completed on behalf of the Department of Justice outlined the scale of the challenges. This document, A Report on the Intersection of the Criminal Justice, Private Family Law and Public Law Child Care Processes in Relation to Domestic and Sexual Violence", had clear conclusions. It is worth quoting from it:

One act or a series of acts of domestic or sexual violence can cause the activation of two and sometimes three distinct legal processes - the criminal justice process, the private family law process and the public law child care process - involving the same victim or victims and the same alleged perpetrator. While there is a very real factual overlap between all of those processes, legally these processes work more or less in isolation, despite the potential for real and beneficial liaison. Victims suffer as a result of this lack of collaboration between the various processes as vital information, which could serve to secure just outcomes, is sometimes lost in the 'gaps' between the three systems.

I recently met with the Offaly group dealing with women who have suffered violence. There is a big issue accessing solicitors. Many solicitors are leaving the area and they need to be funded better to prevent this happening. On foot of the O'Malley review of the treatment of vulnerable witnesses and the victim's journey policy, both focused on criminal proceedings, the report I mentioned previously is a reminder that DSGBV is very complex. There is a serious problem with victims being respected and believed across the board and this must change. I also want to speak briefly about pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. Witnesses want an inter-agency, whole-of-government report and support the insertion of a clause to give the agency the powers to compel other agencies to collaborate towards this. I will defer to my colleagues.

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