Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Five women in Northern Ireland have been killed in the space of just seven weeks: Sophie Watson, Montserrat Martorell, Rachel Simpson, Mary Ward and Mandy Magill. Per capita, Northern Ireland is now one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman. Violence against women is an epidemic and always has been. Our society, culture and institutions are steeped in violence against women and changing that is not easy. It is present on our streets, our workplaces and our homes. We have had a lot of debates in this Chamber in the past year about the need to take further action. We talked about a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence and making that a reality but when the budget came around, there was only an additional €7.9 million allocated for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence initiatives. Will the Government increase the funding allocated in the budget? Gender-based violence does not recognise borders. We are all on one island and violence against women is present in every part of it. Is the Government looking into any all-island initiatives or approaches to try to work together on this?

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