Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Coppinger for tabling the motion, which I very much welcome. I pay tribute to all in the Gallery for their campaigning and strength because the experiences many of them have had come from the most appalling circumstances.

I thank the survivors for all they do to bring to our attention the appalling reality of this matter.

In a report from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre last year, Sarah Benson put it very starkly when she stated that, statistically, the most dangerous place for women is in their own homes. The nightmare of abuse and violence will most commonly come from the hands of a current or former intimate male partner. Yet, when women finally make the enormous decision to leave, there are so few places for them to go. It has been 14 years since Ireland signed up to the Istanbul Convention. Back then we were told we needed one refuge place for every 10,000 people. We had 131 refuge places in 2011. In 2024, that number had barely crawled up to 159. That is absolutely despicable. What is worse is that it does not represent any meaningful increase. In terms of the number of refuges in Ireland, we are just about running to stand still, particularly as the population has increased by more than 805,000 in the intervening period.

The programme for Government contains commitments, which we welcome, but so did previous programmes. Those commitments were not met. The promises now are way off what is needed. We cannot just go about acknowledging the increased numbers of barring orders and those reporting violence and not make the provision accordingly. It is unforgivable, in this day and age, that we are forcing women who are fleeing with their children to go through the additional trauma of having to travel miles every day for work or school. I think of the woman in Cabra who had to go to Coolock. When she timed out of the refuge there, she had to go to Stepaside. She was travelling for an hour and a half every day to her child to school and then had to walk around the streets of Dublin because she could not get back to the refuge. She then had to be back at the school to collect her child in the afternoon. That is unforgivable. That certain counties do not have refuges is a huge issue, but in Dublin we also have a massive shortage of refuge places.

I also want to raise the issue of the specialist training for gardaí responding to 999 calls. Is every member of An Garda Síochána given specialist training? If they are, is that training trauma informed and based on victims' experience? My understanding is that this is not the case and that there is no specialist training for trainees, probationers or those answering 999 calls in our community.

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