Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I want to mark the sad passing of Jacqui Browne, who died yesterday. I had the pleasure of knowing and working with Jacqui as an activist on Thalidomide over many years and was very sad to hear the news. May she rest in peace.

With its report today, Women’s Aid has highlighted the reality that we have an epidemic of violence against women in Ireland. We, of course, acknowledge that progress has been made in recent years. Ireland does now have the agency Cuan and a suite of laws designed to institute zero tolerance for gender-based and domestic violence, and the Minister referred earlier to other changes he is bringing forward on counselling notes. While that is welcome, all of these laws are ineffective if the first line of defence, the gardaí, are not implementing them adequately. That is the charge made by Women’s Aid today.

In its survey, it found that nearly half of the women who sought help from the Garda in the past year found the response “unhelpful”. That is appalling, and the finding reflects a pattern. In March, the Garda Inspectorate reported huge variations in rates of arrest, including for breaches of domestic violence orders, across Garda divisions. Previous studies, for example, in 2019 and 2020, showed that more than 3,000 999 calls on domestic violence went unanswered or were cancelled. In one year, the Garda Inspectorate said that 11,000 reported domestic violence incidents led to only 287 arrests.

This is not zero tolerance. It reflects what may be a dismissive attitude within the criminal process. As a former criminal lawyer - I am sure the Minister has heard this too - I know that all too often, a troubling refrain would be heard in the process, "Ah, it’s only a domestic." That attitude has to be challenged. We all know the brutal impact that domestic violence has, including women are killed or injured by partners or women are entrapped in their homes, subjected to coercive control or manipulated by former partners through the legal process. That is why we must have zero tolerance because the consequences are so appalling for women and children.

Yesterday, the Minister launched the final implementation plan for the zero-tolerance strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It and the actions within it are welcome. However, we need to hear specifically how the Minister will ensure consistency in the Garda response to reports of domestic and sexual violence. Undoubtedly, some of the increased calls are due to heightened awareness but as Sarah Benson from Women’s Aid says, the record high numbers are still only the tip of the iceberg. We all know there is a dark figure of unreported sexual and domestic violence in Ireland and it needs to be tackled.

Victims and survivors need support. Gardaí in local stations are the first line to whom reports are made and they clearly require more training. Gardaí themselves acknowledge this and the Minister has also acknowledged that the training needs to be improved. With the new Garda Commissioner to be appointed soon, will the Minister ensure that this new officer tackles it as a priority? Does he accept his own role in ensuring that the Garda response to domestic and gender-based violence is adequate? What will he do to address this?

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