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

Domestic violence against women is taken extremely seriously by the Government. I outlined some of the measures in my response to the Deputy but more are ongoing. I did not mention the fact that we are going to amend the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964, which will ensure greater rights for the families of children whose mother, generally, has been murdered by the father of the child. We need to ensure that the father does not retain exclusive responsibility after that.

I also want the Deputy to know that a sign of how serious the Government is taking it is that it was on the agenda last week at the North-South Ministerial Council. Naomi Long and I decided that this issue of domestic violence against women is an issue of such seriousness that it affects the whole island and we put it on the agenda of the North-South Ministerial Council.

Cuan has had a very significant impact. It shows the seriousness with which the Government is taking this issue and the unacceptability of what happened in the past, where women tolerated it and people did not listen to them when they were subjected to domestic abuse. Those days are over. A part of the reason that more people are coming forward is that women feel confident to come forward.

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