Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank all contributors. On the issue of sexual and gender-based violence and violence in general, you always think there is a case that will be a tipping point and kick the State into action to put in place measures ensuring it never happens again. Unfortunately, that is not the case and with the assault on Natasha O'Brien we are again debating and discussing this and retraumatising the victim.

As has been summed up, Natasha intervened to help a member of the LGBTQ community who was being abused. She was brave enough to do that and then received a horrific, violent attack which knocked her unconscious and caused huge injury. She then had to go through the Courts Service for the perpetrator to be given a suspended sentence. This is what shocked the nation. The perpetrator gets to step back into his life and move on. Natasha had two options, both of which meant she would have to live with the trauma. One option was to step back into her life with her trauma and move forward but she bravely chose - and I commend her on it - to step forward onto plinths, steps, stages and radio programmes and into the Dáil Chamber to have her voice heard about her experience and how she has been victimised and retraumatised by the system.

We as a Chamber are reactionary. When issues come up, we reflect it in the form of debate and questions but the Opposition cannot bring measures forward. That is for the Government to do. With this motion, we wanted to strike the right balance and put forward proposals that could be implemented and delivered upon. I think the Minister of State should agree with that. It is not just the bravery of Natasha O'Brien's contributions to debates on this but the rawness of those contributions which has struck us all to the core. When this debate and the statements later finish and we are talking about other issues in the Chamber next week and the week after, the Minister of State and the State agencies involved must be pushing forward with solutions so Natasha's bravery is not in vain.

I will speak on a couple of substantive points. We have not seen the legislation making changes relating to character references but they have a chilling effect. Anybody who provides a character reference for an accused in an assault case should be open to cross-examination by the defence lawyers and barristers. Be they a public representative or anybody else, they should not be able to write something on paper attesting to someone's character and not be cross-examined on it. We need to look at the rules around public representatives giving character references. Public representatives are not allowed to sit on juries because of the separation of powers, yet they can give and have given - and probably will again unless we do something different - character references for accused in assault cases. We need to lead by example. If, as the Minister of State says, we are to make courtrooms less daunting for victims, that is one step we could take.

There is also the presence in the courtroom of people in power. Senior members of the Defence Forces were in the court for this case. That was not because they provided character references but was in relation to Defence Forces procedures. That is under review and needs to change. People have been in courtrooms wearing uniforms or blazers of elite schools or elite sports clubs. All of this has a chilling effect, makes the victim feel isolated and alone and strengthens the position of the accused. We need to change that. For a victim to go into a courtroom is, I can only imagine, one of the most challenging, difficult things they could do. To feel unsafe, unheard and unsupported in that courtroom is something we as a State can change.

Deputy Daly raised the extra vulnerability of those of migrant and Traveller backgrounds. It is a salient point and we need to see that being worked on.

I thought Deputy Barry's point regarding toxic masculinity was really interesting. It is a lens through which we do not look at this enough, and that is that toxic masculinity, misogyny and violence against women is big business online. Social media companies are making a fortune on the back of the likes of Andrew Tate and many others. We can have disagreements on the regulation and the tactics for tackling this but it has to be tackled because it is a multibillion euro industry. The end results are manifold and one example is what happened to Natasha O'Brien. Deputy Canney is also correct in what he said about the fact that we are only talking about this today based on the incident with Natasha and her bravery. Gender-based violence is happening every day of the week. We do not see the majority of it but the figures bear repeating. Some 15% of women in Ireland who were surveyed in 2014 had experienced physical or sexual-based violence. In 2023 there were 40,048 disclosures of abuse made to Women's Aid, including 35,500 reports of domestic abuse against women and 4,478 reports of abuse of children, marking an increase of 18% from 33,990 disclosures in 2022. In 2022, An Garda Síochána received 53,737 calls to respond to domestic abuse incidents, a 9% increase from the 49,477 in 2021. It should be noted that in relation to increases in administrative statistics, there is uncertainty as to whether they are the result of more incidents of domestic violence or an increase in reporting of domestic violence. Either way, the arrows and the trends are going up, not down.

The Tusla review published in 2022 and a number of other people have focused on this - it is included centrally in our motion - found that there are only 141 family refuge places, fewer than just 30% of the higher standard of family places required by the Istanbul Convention. We should have 476 of these places. It is clear that the Minister has placed gender-based violence and domestic abuse as a policy priority for her term as Minister. It is clear that she is working hard to deliver in this area but we are still miles behind and there is a postcode lottery based on whether a person can avail even of the 30% of the recommended number of domestic violence refuges. We are so far behind in this country. Ireland is unsafe for many. It is particularly unsafe for women. In this motion we have put forward some proposals which we feel if delivered would make it somewhat safer. We are happy that the Minister is not opposing the motion and is in fact going to support it. Hopefully she will deliver on it. I commend one last time in this debate, Natasha O'Brien, Bláthnaid Raleigh and all the brave women who have had to step forward after their experience of violence and of our judicial system. They have had to come here and to other places to tell their stories and for us to listen and for the Government to act, which I hope it will do

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