Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Coppinger for tabling the motion. I acknowledge the guests we have in the Gallery. My party leader, Deputy Cairns, has been in touch to acknowledge the presence of Mr. David French. She has been working alongside him to bring forward Valerie's law. We will continue to push this as heavily as we can from the Opposition benches, although it would be infinitely easier if it came from the Government.

It has become absolutely routine to be confronted with new reports highlighting the devastating impacts of gender-based violence in Ireland. Time and again, research published in our media has detailed new lows the country has sunk to when it comes to the prevalence of the crisis. It feels like as a society we are becoming increasingly more desensitised to its magnitude. It has been said before that since 1996, 274 women have died violently in the Republic of Ireland. In 2024, an average of 1,250 incidents of domestic violence was reported to the Garda every week. These statistics demand an immediate response from the Government but time and again they are reduced to a headline.

While it is positive that women have been coming forward in recent years, the data we have on the issue comes from under-resourced front-line agencies filling the gap where the State should be. The epidemic of men's violence against women continues to be framed as a women's issue in all facets of society. We know that gender-based violence must be confronted by men. We have created a society where there is such a pervasive sense of male violence against women that the word "femicide" has been coined to describe the epidemic. Even that very term allows men to evade accountability for this ongoing crisis. I remember reading an article close to 15 years ago on Tom Meagher, whose wife Jill was brutally murdered in Australia. He referred to what he called "the monster myth", which he said allows us to see men's violence against women as being perpetrated by monsters who are othered so as not cast blame on the culture in which they are created.

I am quite fearful, in the culture we have moved into, that these same male perpetrators of violence against women no longer seem to be hiding in dark corners or are no longer being othered. They are the President of the United States, sports stars with contracts and sponsorship deals, and men with large social media platforms that actively target young male children in schools as a way of normalising their toxicity and violent hatred towards women. This needs to be confronted on a macro level in terms of education programmes, positive interventions and creating role models and a society that help us remove this culture being targeted at our children every day. Alongside that, we are witnessing a clear and alarming rise in violence among men globally and locally. We are at risk of being a society where women will bear the brunt of men's violence even more than they already do, and we will be confronted with even more horrifying statistics. This is not just a crisis, it is a clear warning sign and an opportunity for the Government to act.

The use of therapy session notes in legal proceedings of sexual assault cases is nothing short of cruel. It is horrendous that such a scenario is still allowed in our court system. We have heard time and again that the process retraumatises survivors, leaving them with no safe space to heal from an unimaginable trauma. The absolute antithesis of restorative justice is to retraumatise victims but this is exactly what the court system allows. It is incumbent on us to intervene and provide legislation that will ensure it will no longer be allowed.

The motion calls on the Government to acknowledge the gender violence epidemic and take immediate action to overhaul the justice system. The Istanbul Convention to which Ireland signed up demands at the very least prevention, protection, prosecution and co-ordinated policies to protect women against men's violence. I support these measures as the most basic starting point of addressing the issue of men's violence against women.

See this speech in context