Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too compliment Labour on bringing forward this very important motion. In all truth, only for Natasha O'Brien, Bláthnaid Raleigh and others having spoken out, we may not be talking about this today. I commend Natasha on speaking out. We have to reflect on what is happening and all the things that are wrong.

The first issue I will speak to is the judicial system and how we can have such a violent crime go to the courts and a judge decide that because a person is in the Army and has pleaded guilty, he should not be given a custodial sentence. The message that sends out is totally dangerous. I know that, as politicians, we cannot interfere in the judicial system, but we do have a role in appointing judges, and it is important when judges are appointed that they are accountable for their decisions. The biggest outcry I have had come into my office is the fact that a judge could hand down a sentence such as this and treat the matter so trivially when it is so serious. There is an onus on us all in this House to re-examine the performance of our judges and how they are monitored in their judgments and their performances in order that we have a judicial system that works properly. People, I think, became really upset when they read the judge's decision. I think that was when people really got annoyed. I do not know what the judge was thinking, but if he was thinking he was protecting the Army or a man's livelihood in the Army, he had the wrong end of the stick entirely. That needs to be called out for what it is.

The second part of this debate relates to how we treat women who are abused, including sexual abuse and violence in the home, and what assistance they get. For instance, in Galway county, we do not have any refuge centre. There is one in Galway city, but if a woman's children go to school locally and have to be taken away from their home for protection, there are very few services out there to protect them. They find themselves in the eye of the storm in trying to fight to get supports, whereas they should be embraced and brought into a system that will protect them properly. A piece of paper referring to a barring order is not much use if there is such a problem.

The Garda has a huge part to play in this. We do not have enough gardaí in the country and we have to look at that and at how we can incentivise more people to take up a career in the Garda. Whatever else is happening, we have large towns now that do not have a strong enough complement of gardaí. For instance, I heard lately from a constituent who rang the Athenry Garda station but whose call was answered in Clifden. The Garda tells us that is the system it has now. If you need somebody in an emergency and you ring the Garda hoping to get Athenry or Tuam and the call is diverted to and answered in Clifden, you will wonder when somebody will come out to you where you have the problem on the ground. I hear, "The garda's car is out at the moment, so we will have to wait for it to come back to go out again and see what is going on." That is the reality of what is happening on the ground, and I am not crying wolf. We do not have enough gardaí. I know there are plans to increase garda numbers but, at the other end of it, I know that a huge number of gardaí are coming up to the end of their time and are just delighted to get out of the force because morale is so low. There is therefore a huge job for us, the Department and Garda management to make sure that gardaí are in an attractive place to work and a good career and that we will not find in five years' time that we are not able to man a lot of our Garda stations.

When we look at what has happened in recent months, and with the publicity these cases that Natasha has spoken about have got, it is important for us not to just have a big discussion about it here. We will have more discussions this afternoon, the Minister said. That is the talk, but the talk then has to be over. There should be a cross-Oireachtas committee put in place, chaired by the Minister herself, maybe, to see how we can actually change things, not just on a tokenistic basis but on a basis that we might deliver effective measures that will stand up with the bravery women have shown and have continued to speak about. We owe it to them now to make sure that whatever we do, we do not just talk about it. It is important that, whatever time is left in this Dáil session, we use that time to good effect in order that Natasha can say we have had some improvement in the system, we have some improvement in the protection of women and we have some protection for their children. We also want to make sure the perpetrators of these crimes realise that there is a consequence and that it is a serious one. There is a body of work to be done there. I know the Minister is not opposing the motion but supporting it. That is the right thing to do, but we have to do more than that. Together, within this House, there are 160 TDs. It is time we said this is not a political issue any more but a serious protection issue that we need to address. I look forward to seeing what will happen in the coming weeks on that.

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