Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am conscious we are discussing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence on the day we learned George Gibney will be extradited from Florida to Ireland to face 79 charges of sexual offences against children. Gibney was a high-profile Irish Olympic swimming team coach in the eighties and nineties who abused his position of power and trust. He was previously charged with, but not tried for, numerous sexual offences. Fortunately, our legal norms and laws have changed since the nineties and it is now possible to prosecute historical sexual offences.

I acknowledge the work of Mark Horgan of Second Captains in bringing this case back into the public consciousness through his investigative podcast series "Where is George Gibney?". This is an example of the importance of well-resourced investigative journalism. The podcast prompted survivors of Gibney to come forward for the first time. It is those survivors I am thinking of in particular today. I pay tribute to them and commend them on their bravery and courage. It cannot have been easy to relive what must be such an agonising trauma by telling their story all these years later. I sincerely hope they get the justice they deserve.

We have a domestic and gender-based violence problem in this country. It is increasingly being recognised and I acknowledge the positive steps that have been taken, such as the establishment last year of Cuan. Nevertheless, the problem persists and the trends are still concerning. As has been noted, Women's Aid services responded to a record number of contacts last year. The Garda responded to an average of 1,144 incidents of domestic abuse per week between 2022 and 2024. That amounts to more than 178,000 times a person was attacked at home, which is a place that should be one of sanctuary and safety. More often than not, the attack was carried out by the person's partner.

We cannot separate the scourge of domestic and gender-based violence from the housing crisis. The most recent homelessness figures show that almost 4,300 women are living in emergency accommodation. How many of them are there because of an abusive partner? We know domestic violence is one of the leading causes, if not the leading one, of homelessness for women. All too often, the system is set up against those seeking safety from domestic and gender-based violence. On several occasions, I have been contacted by people in my constituency trying to escape domestic violence only to face an overly rigid, cold and bureaucratic system of housing supports that shows little sympathy or flexibility towards people in really horrendous and traumatising circumstances.

We see the same in our legal system. Sarah Grace, a solicitor and former colleague of mine, has written and spoken forcefully and courageously about her interaction with the justice system following sexual assault. She exposed the flaws in that system and how it can retraumatise victims and, indeed, be traumatic in its own right. It is a system desperately in need of reform in how it deals with cases of sexual and gender-based violence. The Minister recognises that and I hope he will treat the need for reform with the urgency it deserves.

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