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

I hope that some of the measures she called for are already being acted upon by me, such as the counselling notes, guardianship of infants and the issue in respect of a disclosure system to reveal individuals who have been convicted of domestic abuse previously. I have no difficulty with that. I will speak to the new Commissioner, and I have spoken to the current Commissioner as well, in respect of the issue of domestic and gender-based violence. It is something I am prioritising in my time as Minister. As I said, I commend the excellent work done by my predecessor, Deputy Helen McEntee, and it is something that I am not going to allow to become less significant than it was during her tenure. We need to recognise that it requires a societal response.

"Zero tolerance" is the excellent term we used in the strategy because this must be a type of activity for which we have zero tolerance. It is unacceptable that anyone would think issues in a relationship can be resolved through the use of violence. People cannot do so and, if they do, the criminal justice system will come down on them very strongly.

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