Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There is absolutely no question that a woman who kills in self defence and who has been subject to violence through the years is certainly an exception to what is being proposed here. If Ireland was to change the law we would not be the first country in the world to do so. Laws similar or bearing a strong resemblance to Valerie's law have already been passed in Argentina, Israel, Italy and Britain but there is still an opportunity for Ireland to be in the front rank of European Union countries to pass progressive legislation of this kind. I think the State should take it. On average, seven children in Ireland each year newly suffer from the fact that this law has not been changed. Is there not a danger here that reports are being piled upon reports while action is postponed? We have already had the childcare law reporting project, the study on familicide and violence family death review, and the commissioning of the paper on guardianship of convicted killers, which was due at the end of this month. I note from the Minister's earlier comments that this has now been pushed back to the end of the year. Can the Minister confirm that? I put it to the Minister that there have been enough reports now and it is time to move with urgency to legislate.

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