Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Recently, we have seen shocking stories and harrowing accounts of young female students being attacked, abused, followed and harassed. This is a serious and urgent issue. Too many young women live in fear on the streets, in schools, on college campuses and even online. They face catcalling, stalking, spiking and, in the worst cases, assault. It is shameful to think that young women in Ireland, who should be excited to be facing a new chapter in their lives, are finding that it all goes horribly wrong when they are stalked or assaulted. Many university students have spoken out about being afraid to go out at night alone due to incidents of suspected drugging. The statistics on this issue continue to rise but many cases are going unreported due to fear, stigma and a lack of faith in our justice system. Women are often told to change their behaviour, avoid walking alone, watch their drinks and dress differently. However, telling women to do all this almost makes it sound like they are the issue and they are doing something wrong. It is as if we have to accept this kind of behaviour as the norm and change how we, as women, go about our business. Women should never ever have to shoulder the burden of this responsibility. We need stronger legal protections, including harsher penalties for offenders. Education must also play a role as we teach consent, respect and boundaries from an early age. We need safer streets and safer campuses. We need better street lighting, better and more visible policing and free self-defence classes. We can do all this but we need to build confidence in our young women that they will feel safe. In fact, everybody should feel safe on our streets and campuses.

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