Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this vitally important motion. Men's violence against women is insidious. It was in January 2022 that I last recall this Dail gathering in a time of great national grief and astonishment at the brutal murder of a young woman at the hands of a violent man, to say the words "never again", and use language along the lines of zero tolerance and advancing calls for systematic cultural change. On that occasion it was Ashling Murphy, a young school teacher brutally slain at the hands of a violent man while simply out for a run. We are now two years into the State's promises of zero tolerance, but where are we now? The answer to that is probably best captured by the fact that last week, we heard the words "never again" once more. More than that, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has reported receiving the highest number of calls to its helpline in the centre's 45 year history. That figure came just days after Women's Aid revealed that it received more than 40,000 reports of abuse of women and children last year, amounting to the highest number in the organisation's 50-year history.

As we know that men's violence against women will not be addressed without men ourselves challenging the culture in which it is allowed to thrive, which is a point that was made once more this week by Bláthnaid Raleigh following the sentencing of her attacker, I want to reference Tom Meagher, a man who gave many of us, including me, the language to understand better the pernicious nature of this epidemic that is destroying the lives of women every single day in this country. In Tom Meagher's essay, "The Danger of the Monster Myth", which I believe he released on White Ribbon Day in 2012, he delved into the cultural narrative that depicts rapists and perpetrators of sexual violence as monstrous outliers, fundamentally different from ordinary men. He argues that this myth serves several harmful purposes. First, it creates a false sense of security among the public, who come to believe that only identifiable monsters commit such crimes, thus allowing ourselves to ignore the fact that most sexual violence or violence against women is perpetrated by seemingly normal men within familiar contexts. I back that up by using the Women's Aid statistics once again, of how one in four women in Ireland who have been in relationships have been abused by a current or former partner, and the 35,570 disclosures of abuse against women and 4,478 disclosures of abuse against children. That advances the belief that it is not just the monsters we see in the newspaper.

In that same essay, Meagher draws from a tragic personal experience, noting how the man who raped and murdered his wife, Jill, an Irish citizen who was living in Australia, was initially perceived by both Tom Meagher and the public as a monstrous figure. This reaction, while understandable in its emotional immediacy, ultimately obscures the reality that sexual violence is deeply embedded in everyday social structures and attitudes. By relegating perpetrators to the realm of the monstrous, we as a society absolve ourselves of the responsibility to examine and change the cultural norms and systemic issues that foster environments where such violence can occur. This myth of the monster allows society at large to absolve ourselves of the collective culpability by finding some aspect of the perpetrator that we can use to individualise the rotten fruit from the poisoned orchard in which we all reside. In the case of Ashling Murphy, the nationality of the attacker was focused on initially. On so many other occasions, such as the tragic murder of Clodagh Hawe, we first have to hear that a man who murdered his wife and children, was "a community man who snapped" or about his mental health, to the point that his destruction of a woman's life becomes secondary to the reason for which he did it. Last week, through the courage of Natasha O'Brien, whom I acknowledge in the Gallery, it was the perpetrator's profession that was focused on in narratives.

I was somewhat disappointed, although I suppose it is understandable in certain contexts, that when the Taoiseach was talking about how we have to root violence against women out of our armed services, he somewhat gave the impression that it is okay everywhere else. Those Women's Aid and rape crisis centre statistics indicate that this is far more insidious. If we root it out of the armed forces and have zero tolerance there, we must also go much deeper and root it out of all of society.

This myth prevents meaningful progress in addressing sexual violence and violence against women because it directs attention away from the more common and insidious forms of male violence that permeate society. There must be a call for a reframing of the issue, urging a focus on the ways in which ordinary men are conditioned to exert power and control, often through subtle and socially accepted forms of aggression. We must also see how the justice system and media can in some places perpetuate this monster myth. Sensationalised portrayals of violent criminals reinforce the notion that such individuals are fundamentally different from the average person, thereby neglecting the broader spectrum of behaviours and attitudes that contribute to a culture of violence. There is a culture of violence here, which is shown in those devastating figures from Women's Aid and the rape crisis centre. That culture was best encapsulated in that horrific phrase, which I am sorry for using once again, "Two to put her down, two to put her out".

We talked about the courage of Natasha O'Brien when she intervened in the homophobic abuse that was being levelled at a person walking along the street. That intervention then proceeded to vicious assault on her while other men simply watched on. The perpetrator of that crime then took to social media to brag about it. He felt no danger that what he was saying would be called out.

We must want and demand harsher sentences for a crime of that depravity. However, I am equally terrified of the culture in which a person like that was enabled and what we must do to stop the next ones from emerging.

Zero tolerance should be a minimum expectation, but we must go much deeper and call for a shift in societal perspectives. We must recognise the ordinariness of perpetrators and the everyday cultural practices that support gendered violence. We must seek to dismantle the monster myth. Society can begin to do this by addressing the root causes of sexual violence and work towards creating safer and more equitable communities. A number of different suggestions have been made for how we do that. I believe it must start in early years education and continue in primary schools and secondary schools. We still do not have an effective relationships and sex education, RSE, programme in schools, nor do we have effective ethics courses. Principals the length and breadth of this country have called for effective psychological supports and counselling services in schools to address trauma but also to combat the toxic culture in which young people are emerging into a society in which, while it is changing and evolving fast, the culture of violence against women still permeates.

I have spent most of my time talking about confronting the monster myth culture, but that should not take away from the responsibility of the State, which is failing in a number of ways. Nine counties are still without refuge centres. We do not have appropriate data.

I listened to Bláthnaid Raleigh this morning. I joined the protest led by Natasha O'Brien. I cannot begin to comprehend their courage. We must also acknowledge that we seek to protect the anonymity of those women who are victims of crime and who choose anonymity as the best approach and suited to their needs. We must protect anonymity while advancing harsher sentences. We need an ombudsman for victims, as has been suggested by the Judicial Council.

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