Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We must have a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence. This issue is compounded by a judicial system, political system and society that fail to confront the problem.

I have seen at first hand the incredible work done by Saoirse women's refuge in my area. Those involved informed me of the stress a woman has to go through in the legal system. The process of obtaining a safety order can be difficult logistically as well as mentally. Often, a physically and mentally abused woman must bring her already traumatised children into the Family Courts. There is no privacy or space, and they often feel unsafe. We must make court proceedings more survivor-friendly.

More and more women now have to choose between homelessness and a place that is no longer safe. We can imagine the trauma of being physically and mentally abused and having the courage to reach out for help only to be faced with a Hobson's choice of staying in the home with the abuser or becoming homeless with children.

We know that the most dangerous time for women who experience domestic abuse or relationships involving physical violence is when they attempt to leave the home. A quick search on the Women's Aid website this morning revealed that 274 women have died violently in Ireland since 1996. I hate bringing up statistics because behind each statistic is a real person, a family member - somebody who has been failed by the system. Some 63% of the women were killed in their own home, with 55% being killed by a partner or ex-partner. Almost nine out of ten of these women knew the person who killed them.

In my area of Dublin Mid-West we saw a 10.3% increase in the number of incidents of domestic violence in the past year alone. Women deserve better. They deserve to feel safe in every space they enter. I do not want to live in a society that treats 50% of its population as less worthy just because of their gender.

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