Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising the Women's Aid report. At 11 o'clock this morning, I was down on Wood Quay and I launched that report. I commend Women's Aid on the excellent work it has done for 51 years in Ireland in identifying the unacceptable behaviour of abuse against women.

The Deputy raised a number of issues, which Government is dealing with, and I will identify a few of them. She referred to the criminal justice system and how it needs to be adapted to ensure women can feel more confident about coming before the courts to ensure the criminal acts against them are dealt with appropriately by the courts. I have received approval from Government to bring forward an amendment to the sexual offences Act to ensure the issue of counselling notes will be dealt with properly once and for all. Under the legislation I am bringing forward and that Government has approved, it will mean counselling notes will only ever be able to be used in trials if it is the case that to not use them would result in an unfair trial.

I also wish to let the Deputy know about the issue in respect of the register for domestic violence. I had the privilege last week of meeting Jason Poole along with my colleagues Senator Fiona O'Loughlin and Deputy Paul McAuliffe. He has been to the forefront of trying to ensure there is some mechanism in place to make sure women, who are the victims of abusers, can find out information about men who have previously abused and been convicted of criminal offences in respect of other women. That work is ongoing in my Department.

Deputy McDonald also mentioned refugee spaces. I agree with her that it should not be the case that the first instinct and the first port of call when a woman is subjected to domestic abuse in her home is that we ask how we can find another place for that woman to live. The response should be: how we can get the abuser out of the home? Of course, there are mechanisms in place to ensure that is being done, whether it is through barring orders, safety orders or other mechanisms that are available to women who find themselves in the appalling situation of being subjected to domestic abuse. That is an area I am committed to ensuring is adequately funded.

The Deputy asked what the Government has done. I have to commend my predecessor on the work she did in this area. She established a separate statutory agency, Cuan, which has daily responsibility for trying to ensure there are refuge spaces. I agree with the Deputy in that it should not be our first port of call but it is unquestionably the case that we require refuge spaces throughout the country. I have visited many of them. An excellent refuge in Drogheda is an example of how it should be done. There will be one opening in my own constituency shortly in Ringsend. However, in order for that to happen, and for the progress to be seen to be advanced in the area of refuge spaces, it is a huge benefit that we have a separate statutory agency in Cuan that is focusing on getting those refuge spaces. It is also the case that having a separate statutory agency in place really shows the seriousness with which Government is treating this issue. Yesterday, I got approval from Government in respect of the zero-tolerance strategy and the final implementation plan for the strategy that goes up to the end of 2026. It shows that Government, and every Member of this House, is taking this issue extremely seriously.

The Deputy is right about the numbers of individuals who are responding to Women's Aid. Indeed, An Garda Síochána got over 60,000 complaints of domestic abuse last year. Behind each of those statistics is a story and we cannot get lost in the narrative of statistics. She mentioned An Garda Síochána. I was concerned about the fact that a percentage of women were not satisfied with their initial engagement with gardaí but the majority were satisfied and we need to reflect that. Training is ongoing in Templemore in respect of this issue. I am sure it can be improved but gardaí do an excellent job in this area.

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