James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this motion on domestic and sexual violence. I acknowledge the emphatic and empathetic contributions made by all of the speakers this morning. As the Minister, Deputy McEntee, outlined, the Government is not opposing this motion. We are all in agreement that we need to keep the momentum of change going in working towards zero tolerance for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence right across society.

As Minister of State with responsibility for law reform, I have been supporting the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and Government colleagues to keep driving improvements to our system. We have increased funding for supporting victims, introduced new legislative provisions and established Cuan as a dedicated agency to further drive on this important work.

A focus of the motion is on ensuring that professionals are held accountable and to the highest standards by relevant regulations, as well as sanctions where needed. I appreciate the urgency for further reforms in this area and I want to reiterate how this work is ongoing. However, it is important that the time is taken to get it right and ensure all issues have been fully considered and, where appropriate, addressed in the output of this work.

CORU has made great progress in examining the regulation of counselling and psychotherapy services and this work is continuing. The importance of counselling and psychotherapy services to victims cannot be underestimated, and we know it is equally important that sufficient safeguards are put in place. For this, among other reasons, it is crucial that CORU fully considers all relevant factors in order that the standards these professionals must meet to be registered are appropriate, robust and well informed.

The motion calls for a review of the Dentists Act 1985. It is welcome to hear that this is planned and listed as a priority in the national oral health policy. An implementation plan for the 2024-26 phase of the policy’s roll-out is currently being drafted by the Department of Health and the HSE. I understand it will go out for consultation later this year and will be published. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has met with the Dental Council and priority for this year is to consider the development of a small number of interim enhancements to the Dentists Act in areas identified as a priority by the Dental Council, and to proceed with these where appropriate. I understand this will include provisions enabling the Dental Council to develop a statutory scheme for continuing professional development, CPD, and competence assurance for registered dentists, in line with those provided for other regulated health professionals.

I also highlight that the Dental Council of Ireland already has powers under the Dentists Act 1985 and other provisions to withhold registration from those convicted of a sexual offence and to address the illegal practise of dentistry by unregistered individuals. The Departments of Justice and Transport, together with the Garda, will urgently review the system in place for licensing taxi drivers to identify any improvements that need to be made, including periodic rechecks of a person's suitability, to ensure as far as we can that taxis are safe.

The motion also calls for an update on when the Judicial Council will publish its sentencing guidelines. The work of the committee was outlined in detail last week but I will restate for the record that the first set of sentencing guidelines on domestic violence or violence in a relationship will be provided to the board of the Judicial Council before the end of the year. It is expected that the committee will be in a position to produce the next set of draft guidelines, which will be on fatal driving offences, relatively shortly thereafter. It is proposed to produce further guidelines dealing with other offences on a regular basis. I hope the House is assured that the process of developing sentencing guidelines is under way in a systematic fashion.

I thank all of those who have contributed to today's debate. I ask Members to keep the spotlight on domestic and sexual violence. We will get to zero tolerance by continuing to consider what we can do better, how we can keep improving the system and, most importantly, how we can provide further supports to victims. It is a topic we must keep at the top of our agenda. The attitudes which have for too long underpinned domestic sexual and gender-based violence will not change overnight but recognising the need for everyone to play their part in changing them is a start in understanding they are not acceptable. We also know we will not fix all the problems with the system overnight but I assure the House that we are still listening to those who have been through it and have found it wanting. This process of reform will take time but we are committed to making it work better for victims of these horrific crimes. The systems, processes and attitudes need to change. We will improve outcomes for victims and this Government is committed to continuing to drive this change.

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