Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Labour Party for giving me the opportunity to say a few words about this very serious matter. Clearly, Natasha O'Brien has highlighted the unfairness of the decision taken, which was not proportionate to the crime that was carried out against her. Judges need to be allowed to have a bit of discretion but in this case the decision was totally wrong. The whole of Ireland are up in arms about it and something has to be done to ensure this does not happen again.

The records show that violence against women and children has increased. Clearly, something has happened in the past couple of years. One of things that has happened, sadly, is that more people are drinking at home. There is no such thing as a measure or a half one; it is a mug or a cup of alcohol. Drink should not be an excuse and people should not be doing it anyway, but I feel this violence, or a certain amount of it anyway, is coming from that.

We need places for women and children who need refuge when situations such as this arise. We do not have such places, or enough of them anyway, in Kerry. The people who come to me in conditions of serious distress have nowhere to go.

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