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

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. All of us in recent times have seen far too many incidents like the one referred to by the Deputy. This is why my Department undertook a review of familicide. This report was published in May 2023. It was commissioned by my Department to effectively respond to a very challenging but also complex area and one that I feel we have seen far too much of in this country. As part of the review there was extensive engagement with non-governmental organisations, with State agencies, and most importantly there has been engagement and continues to be engagement with families of those who have been impacted by familicide. Most of us cannot even begin to imagine what they are going through. Given they are engaging and continue to support and work with us in this process I want to express my sincere gratitude to those. There are others who have not been involved in the system but who advocate on behalf of their loved ones and those they have lost.

There was a significant number of recommendations, with more than 212 recommendations from the report overall. I am absolutely adamant that we get this right and that we try to progress them in a timely manner. They are being progressed as part of this body of work and there are other strands as well. We have the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy and zero tolerance plan, which is bringing forward some of these actions. Other elements are very much part of the family justice strategy also. We have a dedicated team established in my Department to review and progress other recommendations including a recommendation on restricting parental rights in cases of domestic homicide. While there was not a clear path as to how this would be done there are three elements to it: there is a group meeting with the Department and State agencies; there is a second group made-up of the community and voluntary organisations that work with many of the families; and then there is a third group made-up of the parents, the brothers and sisters, and the children of the families. Engagement also needs to take place considering the role and the power of Tusla to take appropriate child protection action in emergency situations. The team has been considering this and are meeting again this month to see how best to bring this forward. They will have recommendations to me on this by the end of the year.

The straightforward answer to the Deputy's question definitely would be "Yes", but when we think about it there are various different scenarios that we must tease through. Maybe I could come back to that.

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