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

I dtús báire, gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí Dála as páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht. I thank all the Members for their interesting and informed contributions to the debate. I also want to welcome to the Public Gallery any people who are victims of the criminal activity that we have been discussing here today and the people who are supportive of them. I also want to put on the record my acknowledgement of the work done by David French in respect of the Guardianship of Infants (Amendment) Bill.

It is going to be difficult to respond in detail to all colleagues, but I am going to try to give some response to them. Deputy Devine referred to strangulation sex and strangulation pornography. I would be very concerned if people's sexual behaviour has been moulded by weird pornography that is proliferating. I thank the Deputy for bringing it to my attention. I am not sure whether legislation and criminalisation are the response to that. It certainly is the case, however, that girls and women need to be informed about the fact that things that are being suggested to them that boys and men are extracting from online activity are not normal. We need to get that message out there.

Deputy Carthy referred to the refuge spaces in his constituency and the civil legal aid scheme that needed to be supported in order to ensure that women could have the expertise to facilitate them in getting barring orders. As I said before, it is my intention to improve the civil legal aid scheme and I hope to be able to publish the reports I have received in respect of it recently. I will also look again at the Deputy's victims of sexual violence Bill.

Deputy Bennett similarly referred to the absence of refuge centres in Cavan and Monaghan. This issue has been repeatedly raised with me by my colleagues, Niamh Smyth and Brendan Smith. I am aware of it. However, as has been recognised by other Deputies, including Deputy Mitchell, it cannot just become - I am not suggesting colleagues are indicating this - a county issue about needing a refuge centre in each county, as in, some counties have them and I want one in my county. We need general refuge spaces throughout the country. We need to ensure they are well dispersed.

I note what Deputy Mitchell said in respect of the domestic violence register and the training of gardaí. I want to clarify and assure Members that gardaí are trained when in Templemore in respect of domestic violence. It is a complex area that they need to be trained on, but they are being trained.

Deputy Ward referred to the fact that when he was here previously, he said men should call out other men. He is correct in that. They should not worry about the response on social media. Social media exerts far too much influence on young people and we should not respond to it, as it is not representative.

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue spoke about the removal of names from joint tenancies. That is an issue where a male partner has been convicted of assault or violence against a female partner. As any Member of this House who has been a member of a local authority will know, it is extremely difficult to get somebody's name removed from the tenancy if that person is a tenant of a local authority. There are consequences if we are going to say that persons convicted of criminal offences lose their rights to a tenancy. We need to be careful and cautious of that. Although it sounds correct in terms of trying to get an abuser out of the house as opposed to the woman looking for a refuge space, we have to be careful about removing tenancy rights from persons who are convicted of offences.

Deputy Ciarán Ahern referred to George Gibney. I am not going to talk too much about that, as there are charges pending here in response to an extradition request that has been raised in America. I note he will be returned here to face those charges.

I listened very carefully to the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, who emphasised the need for units in County Carlow. I will pursue that further.

Deputy Séamus McGrath was correct when he said a significant amount of abuse was not recorded. As policymakers, we all need to try to encourage women to know that there is support for them if they come forward and if they report what is criminal behaviour.

Deputy McGreehan talked about how she stood in solidarity with victims. She also noted that women sometimes were groped on public transport. That is a criminal offence. It should be reported. I am pleased to say that, recently, a man was convicted of a grievous sexual assault on a woman while she was travelling on the Luas.

Deputy Cronin spoke about how in society were not protecting women. I believe that the changes in the law and the greater emphasis we are placing on domestic violence is having a good impact in terms of protecting women. It is obviously a constant battle but we are in a stronger position now than we were ten or 20 years ago in terms of society's response to it and how it is so unacceptable. I heard Deputy Cronin speak about Senator Ryan's account of domestic violence. I want to emphasise something that Senator Ryan said and that I believe the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, Deputy Cummins, mentioned also. Domestic violence in a house can have a devastating impact on a young child growing up. It makes the child frightened to see his or her parents engaged in violence in the house and it perpetuates that in the child's psychology in the future so that it becomes normalised.

Deputy Gannon spoke about the three cases of Jennifer Poole, the former garda who was convicted and George Gibney. Let us remember that Jennifer Poole's killer is serving a life sentence in prison, the garda was convicted of the offence and George Gibney is in the process of being extradited. The family law system is a system that results in dissatisfaction partly because the court system is based on an adversarial system where there is a winner and a loser. In family law disputes, that generally does not succeed that well. We need to start looking for more mediated solutions to family law disputes as opposed to the adversarial response of one side wins and the other side loses.

I noted what the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach said in terms of children who were living in a house where there was domestic violence and how men needed to be educated that violence was unacceptable. That responsibility rests on all of us, particularly the male Members of this House.

I noted what Deputy Hearne said about homelessness and the housing issue having an impact on women who were in accommodation. It is hard for me to dispute that because it is certainly the case that, if somebody goes into a refuge and cannot go back to the home, the only option available is to try to get a safe home. Local authorities are providing safe homes, albeit on a temporary basis. As our population increases, it is becoming a significant problem.

I listened to Deputy Gibney, who said we lived in a patriarchal society. That was certainly historically the case in Ireland. I do not think it is the case now. Female Members of the House may disagree with me but certainly the society we live in now is a much more equal society from women's point of view than it was historically.

I listened to Deputy Moynihan when he talked about how things had changed since Covid-19. He is right. Covid-19 had a significant impact on many aspects of not just Irish life, but life internationally. One of them was that people being locked up in houses together had the impact of increasing the level of domestic violence.

I heard what Deputy Butterly had to say in respect of Louth and the investment in Cuan. That will continue.

I listened to Deputy O'Reilly's account of Janet. My only advice to Janet would be that if she has been offered accommodation within the Dublin City Council area, she should not refuse it simply because a person who was convicted of abusing her lives in Dublin city. Perhaps she was going to be placed close to him, which would be different.

I listened to Deputy O'Gorman and will certainly take into account the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill. It seems to be a straightforward piece of legislation that will no longer treat the breach of a court order as just a summary offence but also as an indictable offence. I would have thought, however, that most of those offences would be prosecuted on indictment.

Deputy Coppinger talked about the issue of counselling notes. It is the case, notwithstanding her views, that the advice I have received is that to prohibit access to counselling notes for an accused in a trial across the board would be unconstitutional.

I also listened to Deputy Catherine Connolly and what she said about the legislation. Deputy Daly, having been a GP in Roscommon for three decades, has good insight. I have worked closely with Deputy McAuliffe on the case of Mr. Jason Poole. Deputy Ó Murchú talked about online characters. I would say to him that they are not representative.

I do not recognise the complete negativity on violence from Deputy Tóibín. Ireland is generally a non-violent society.

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