Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

Today, we mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. We need to commend the bravery of all those women who have come forward and who have made changes and advocated for change, from Lavinia Kerwick to Natasha O'Brien and so many more. I acknowledge the progress that has been made on the introduction of Coco's law, the offence of coercive control and Cuan, the new agency, but I also recognise how much more there is to do in terms of lack of refuges and more legislative change.

I want to speak about something that came out at the weekend. We are all conscious that we cannot have zero tolerance of violence against women while we are normalising attitudes that facilitate or tolerate sexist abuse. We saw the Shein website advertising childlike sex dolls online. In France today, the French Government is moving in court to suspend the Shein website - this online shopping platform's website - because of the sale and advertisement of these awful objects that are perpetuating this sexist attitude towards women and perpetuating a culture where we cannot have the zero tolerance we all want to achieve.

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