Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling the motion. As I stated in response to a Topical Issue on refuge and accommodation earlier, I welcome the fact we are discussing this issue and I welcome the raising of the issues in the motion. When we finished debating our second motion last week, I called on every one of us to make sure we keep this on the agenda and continue to focus on and prioritise addressing the issue of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence because it is an epidemic and we cannot just discuss it when somebody comes forward. I acknowledge the presence of Natasha in the Gallery. We need to make sure this is a continued and sustained effort by each and every one of us. I welcome the motion, which we will not oppose.

The motion focuses on sexual violence and rightly commends Natasha O'Brien, Bláthnaid Raleigh, the Women of Honour and the women in the Football Association in the context of everything we heard over the weekend. I commend the survivors and victims who speak out about their experiences, showing the utmost courage, but also those who feel they cannot and are not in a position to do so. I think everybody in this Chamber speaks for all of them. Each one of them reminds us that although we have made some improvements, whether in our structures, services, legislation, some of which we will pass only this evening in the House, or the increase in funding we have managed to achieve over recent years, there is so much more work we need to do, which I think we all accept and know.

The Deputies talked about changing institutions and cultures. This will not happen over the lifetime of one strategy or, indeed, one Government. It needs consistent and sustained focus. Deputy Cairns said last week, although I think she was making the point generally, that as a society we say never again when something happens. I wish we were in that position now to say never again but I do not think we are anywhere near that. One of the issues that frustrate me most is that we will have this conversation today and we are all absolutely committed to making progress but we know there are women who will suffer at the hands of men today. We know there are women, children and men – people - who will be victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence today, tomorrow and the next day. All we can do is commit to making the changes we can make to try to shift our institutions, shift that culture and achieve zero tolerance. It is about us not tolerating what we have tolerated previously, and that takes a great deal of effort and time. I am absolutely committed to it, as, I think, everybody in this House is.

The statistics are stark and we are getting to see a much clearer picture of what is happening and has always been happening, whether through the Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey published last year, the work that has been done by so many of the organisations over recent years, or the work of the Garda, which published a report last year highlighting information we probably knew but in clear facts outlining what it is engaging with, whereby so many victims of domestic violence are also victims of sexual violence. We need to look at this so very complex picture in the round, but it is important we have this information and use these facts because behind every fact is an individual, a person, and this helps us to improve our structures, our services, the supports that need to be there and our legislation, and to make sure that, insofar as possible, we will get it right.

The third national strategy is a whole-of-government response, and it is not just about justice. This has to be everybody playing their part. It is about realising that gender-based violence and abuse, and the attitudes and the assumptions that underpin so much of it, have inflicted misery on too many people for far too long, but it is about much more than that. It is about people feeling safe and supported, whether in their homes, their community, as they walk down the street, online, when they are socialising or when they are travelling, and just feeling safe to be themselves without fear or harassment. In particular, it is about them feeling safe to report their experiences, knowing they will be treated with respect and with the support and protection they need. It is about support to report crimes whereby, when victims come forward, they will have that refuge and accommodation and be supported through the criminal justice system. Again, I know there is a good deal of work we need to do in that regard, but work is progressing and we are starting to see signs of change.

Supporting a victim's journey focuses specifically on protecting and supporting the victims of sexual violence and vulnerable witnesses in trials. Some of those actions have been implemented, while others are online and still need more work to be done. To highlight the provision of protective services units, these are units within An Garda Síochána specifically dedicated to supporting the victims of sexual violence, be that past or present. It is so important we continue to expand on those units because it is difficult work and we know that even if we multiplied by ten the number of gardaí working in those units, it would still probably not be enough, but we need to continue to build on that and make sure they have the supports, resources and training they need. So many of the actions in the zero-tolerance strategy relate to providing that training and upskilling, be it in our Garda College, the divisional protective services units or generally in the Garda because, of course, one of these units might not be the first place a person would walk into. It might be their local Garda station down the road or the garda with whom they are used to engaging.

Work is under way under the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP. Since 2021, when a file is sent forward to the DPP, it is dealt with by staff from a dedicated sexual offence unit, who are very familiar with the issue and are trained to look at it with a certain focus. It is really important to build on that in order that every element of the justice system will have that particular view and that it will be victim centred, victim focused, trauma informed and supported, and that the teams working there will be supported as well.

There has been investment in supports at court as well. One of the first meetings I had as Minister, which I recall because it was on Zoom, was with victims supports at court, where they said clearly that they needed additional funding and support to expand their services throughout the country, given they were available only in certain areas. I am really pleased that in the coming weeks, I will open some of those new services in the south because we have worked with them. It has taken time, which is the most frustrating aspect in all of this, but we are getting there.

Turning to some of the other issues the Deputies raised, while other Departments are involved here, I am absolutely confident my colleagues and all of the Government are committed to making progress in other areas. In respect of defence, the Tánaiste has reiterated the pride we all have in the vast majority of the men and women of the Defence Forces, who serve the nation so admirably. The actions of a minority completely go against the values of the Defence Forces and have no place in a modern workforce. This is especially true in an organisation that is there to protect all of us, and we have all been very clear about that. The Tánaiste has requested a report from the Chief of Staff to establish how many serving members of the Defence Forces have civil convictions or are before the civil courts on serious criminal offences. As an immediate measure, he has issued an instruction for service personnel who have been convicted of rape or sexual assault and are awaiting discharge, or who are before the courts on such charges, to be immediately placed on local leave. This measure is already captured in the Defence Forces regulations and the Tánaiste has been absolutely clear that this must now be applied uniformly in all such cases throughout the organisation. He has appointed, as the Deputies mentioned, Mr. Peter Ward to undertake a high-level analysis of the application of military law in circumstances where personnel have been convicted of serious offences in the civil courts. Along with this analysis, Mr. Ward will make recommendations on what, if any, enhanced powers may be necessary to improve the process, regulations, legislation and reporting arrangements.

The work relating to the Women of Honour is progressing. I know that Deputies have issues with the miscellaneous Bill, which is being progressed this evening. There are important elements in that Bill, not least for the Women of Honour, to make sure we can appoint that additional judge to progress that work. There are different strands on which all of us are working with one another to try to make sure that structural change within the Defence Forces can happen as soon as possible. I ask colleagues for their support in passing that Bill later.

In respect of counsellors or psychotherapists and dentists, the Minister is working with the representative groups of both of those areas to try to make sure we can put in place the right structures and the oversight mechanisms in order that there will be clear oversight of those who are working with, in particular, vulnerable people. I acknowledge this is separate to it, but even in the strategy itself there are quite a number of recommendations that focus on making sure there are trauma-informed training modules and delivery relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, not just for those in this sector but for everyone who engages with vulnerable victims. The work on counselling notes, too, is a clear action in the zero-tolerance strategy and I expect work being done by the Department of Health, the DPP, the Garda, my Department and others to be presented to me in the third quarter of this year because this issue, in particular, has been raised by many victims of sexual violence.

In regard to vetting, while I will not get into the details of cases, I want to clarify something about one case where there has been some confusion. It is not the case that the man in question had been convicted of a sexual offence and continued to drive a taxi. He was first convicted of a sexual offence in May of this year, at which time he had been in prison for almost two years and his taxi licence had been revoked while the investigation into the allegations against him was under way.

I say this to reassure the public that there is a system and structure in place. Separate to that, in terms of vetting, a review has been underway for some time through my Department. I will have the conclusions of that review in the next two weeks and it will look at a number of different things including if people need multiple vetting if they are working with multiple organisations. It will also look at ways in which we can have vetting on a regular basis. I have asked for a particular focus on taxis. If I need to do more work, not just through that review working with the regulators on taxi services but with any other type of service where people engage with those on their own, that will absolutely be part of the review and recommendations.

I turn to refuge development. I had a Topical Issue earlier. There are 18 projects underway that will allow us to double the number of refuges and accommodation in the lifetime of this strategy. That is not the endpoint, but we need to get the structures, so it is not just bricks and mortar, but the services surrounding it. We are making good progress, most importantly, working with the sector in that regard.

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