Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I recently visited the family courts in Dolphin House where I witnessed at first hand the archaic buildings, lack of basic facilities and long queue of people seeking to access the courts. Women who are already in extremely stressful situations are being forced to make sensitive decisions about their lives and those of their children in corners, hallways and empty doorways because there are only three consultation rooms serving the three courts. Victims of domestic violence are often left in what can only be described as holding pens, with the perpetrator eyeballing them in a very confined space. That is a very intimidating experience. Compare this to the state-of-the-art facilities available at the Central Criminal Court where suspects are treated royally, with 22 courtrooms, 27 lifts and 450 rooms. Will the Minister undertake to find a more suitable building for the family courts? Surely there is something appropriate in the National Asset Management Agency's portfolio.

It can take eight to ten weeks to obtain a barring order after a protection order has been issued to the victims of domestic violence. Victims, the vast majority of whom are women, often have no place to go other than home and are, therefore, obliged to continue residing with their abuser during this time. That is potentially exceptionally dangerous for the women concerned and their children. Domestic violence is often not taken seriously in this country, being passed off as something that happens within a relationship. It is about power and control and often overlaps with child abuse. In many instances, even if a child does not see his or her mother being shouted at, threatened, kicked, beaten or raped, he or she will see physical evidence in the form of bruising, black eyes, damaged windows and broken furniture. Make no mistake, children in this situation are being emotionally abused. The statistics released today by Women's Aid indicate that elderly women make up a significant group among those experiencing domestic violence, often for many years and decades.

The Minister has done tremendous work in the past in the area of family law. Will he consider the points I have raised today? Women and children deserve better.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The facts revealed once again in today's Women's Aid annual report are shocking. They are not just shocking; they are depressing, because annually Women's Aid and other organisations release statistics which lay bare the reality of domestic violence in this State and the brutality that women and their children experience in their homes. We know that one in five women in Ireland will experience violence and abuse from an intimate partner at some stage in their lives. Women's Aid revealed that over the course of 2012, there were 3,230 disclosures of direct child abuse to its aid helpline. That is a 55% increase on last year. The helpline receives 32 calls each day and has had more than 16,000 disclosures of emotional, physical, sexual and financial abuse.

When one reads the report and moves beyond the statistics to the human experiences of these victims of abuse, the detail is quite harrowing. Women have given disclosures of being locked in and prevented from leaving their houses, being drugged, assaulted and hospitalised, being beaten while pregnant or breast-feeding, being gagged to stop screaming, being raped and sexually abused, including being pinned down and assaulted, and being forced to have sex in return for money to feed their children. These are not the kinds of scenario that I take any joy in reading into the record of this House but it is important that we understand the true, harrowing human suffering endured by large numbers of women and their children behind the statistics. Deputy Mitchell O'Connor quite rightly pointed out in her contribution that children witness these violent episodes in their homes and are damaged by that.

The programme for Government promised consolidated domestic violence legislation. I am very disappointed that the Minister has put that on the back burner in favour of other legislative priorities. Women's Aid has called, very reasonably, for an on-call system for accessing emergency barring orders to give women and their children at risk 24-7 protection. It has also called for the removal of the strict cohabitation criteria to extend eligibility for protection under the domestic violence legislation to women who are abused in dating relationships. I was disappointed in the Minister's response to a parliamentary question that I put to him in respect of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which cited Article 52 of that convention, a provision for emergency barring orders, but set it against the property rights defined under the Irish Constitution, offering that as a rationale for this State's not signing, or indeed ratifying, the convention. The time for action is now.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I thank my colleague Deputy Mitchell O'Connor for raising this matter, and Deputy McDonald, who seems to be consistently disappointed about everything. I regard this as an issue of particular importance and have always done so.

The report released by Women's Aid today shows that domestic violence continues to be a blight on the life of many women, children and indeed men in Ireland and shows the importance of the community and voluntary sector in the provision of appropriate responses to social problems in Ireland. The community and voluntary sector, which includes organisations such as Women's Aid, comprises no fewer than 60 domestic violence services in this country, offering helplines, emotional support, information, court accompaniment, onward referral and refuges. A key support offered to those who avail of these services, including male victims who contact Amen, is safety planning. This supports the person in planning a safe and speedy departure from his or her home at a predetermined time or when the situation demands. This is a sensitive area, as violence can intensify where a victim gives signs of leaving the home or the relationship.

The domestic violence sector in Ireland spent €31.2 million in 2011, according to annual accounts. The sexual violence sector spent an additional €7.8 million in that year. In 2012, the HSE, the main State funder of the sector, contributed €14.5 million to the domestic violence sector and granted a further €4 million to the sexual violence sector. The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government also provides significant State funding, primarily to fund voluntary sector refuges.

The issue of domestic violence is one that I and this Government take very seriously. Cosc, the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, is continuing to co­ordinate the implementation of the National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2010-2014. The remit of the strategy covers men and women, including older people. One of Cosc's key objectives on its inception in 2007 was to improve awareness of the issues and the services available and to encourage family and friends of victims to recognise the problem and help them to get appropriate assistance from the State and from organisations such as Women's Aid. In that sense, it is encouraging to note that more people are seeking help in dealing with these problems.

After coming into office, I did in fact at a very early point take action to reform the law. I was able to bring through important amendments to the Domestic Violence Acts 1996 and 2002 through the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, one of the first Bills enacted during my term as Minister. The net effect of these changes has been to extend the protections of this legislation to a wider range of people and circumstances. The first amendment allows for a parent to apply for a safety order against the other parent of his or her child, even where those parents do not live together and may never have lived together. This amendment ensures that the protection of the law is available where access to a child is an occasion of intimidation or even violence between disputing parents. The second amendment extends the protections of the Acts to same-sex couples who have not registered a civil partnership, on the same basis as had previously been available to unmarried opposite-sex couples "living together as husband and wife". These same-sex couples are no longer required to have lived together for at least six of the last 12 months before one of them can obtain a safety order against the other.

In addition, during its Presidency of the European Council, Ireland successfully negotiated an agreement with the European Parliament on the European Protection Order, a civil law measure which will ensure that victims of domestic violence and other forms of violence, harassment and intimidation can avail of national protections when they travel to other EU member states. I was particularly pleased to be able to effect an agreement on this very important measure in my position during the Presidency as Chairman of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which sends an important signal that domestic violence, harassment and intimidation are unacceptable throughout the EU.

Work to develop further responses to help children affected by domestic violence is expected in the context of the new child and family support agency, which will replace the HSE as the core funder of domestic and sexual violence services and which will fall under the remit of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Work is also being undertaken on the consolidation of domestic violence legislation and further reform. As Deputy McDonald, who complains about this matter, well knows, there is a substantial legislative programme and I prioritised immediate issues relating to domestic violence at an early stage. I hope in 2014 to bring the further legislation required in this area before the House.

Finally, I wish to address the particular issue raised by my colleague Deputy Mitchell O'Connor. I absolutely agree with her that there is a need for new and better family court facilities in this State. One of the reasons for the proposal to have a constitutional referendum to provide for a unified system of family courts is that we need an integrated family court structure with the necessary back-up services and with judges who have the special skills necessary to deal in a sensitive and appropriate way with family cases. The Deputy may be interested to know that in early July a consultative seminar will take place involving members of the legal profession working in this area to feed into the process of developing the proposals necessary to create a new, unified family court structure. In that context, one of the issues I am exploring is the identification of funding that will be necessary to improve the court structure that administers family law.

I believe it is crucial in the context of the family courts that there are adequate consultation and in-house mediation facilities such as those operating on a pilot basis in Dolphin House. It is important that when there are issues between estranged parents they are encouraged to deal with matters relating to the welfare of their children and resolve these issues through mediation without the necessity for court proceedings. We must put in place a careful and sensitive approach, one that is already reflected in the family courts system in Australia. The House may be interested to know that we have arranged for the president of the Australian family court to speak at the seminar taking place in early July.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I was delighted to hear the Minister’s plans for this area and that he agrees the family court system needs a radical overhaul. Behind each of the figures released today by Women's Aid is a woman or a child living in fear of being beaten, ridiculed, abused and emotionally battered. While the Government has plans to hold a referendum to provide a unified system of family courts, there is no doubt that the family court structure is falling apart and many women involved are in great need of help. I know the Minister is holding a consultation forum in the next few months, on which I commend him.

The Women's Aid report has given us an idea of the scale of the abuse being suffered in this country. It is up to the Minister and to us in government to offer these women the protection they deserve and to facilitate them in rebuilding their shattered lives. I do not want to attend the Women's Aid annual report event again next year to hear the same or worse statistics. Let us make a real difference.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister claims I am consistently disappointed. I will remain disappointed so long as Women's Aid produces reports that reflect such statistics. Not only I but many women and citizens will remain disappointed if the Minister continues to delay the introduction of consolidated domestic violence legislation. Will the Minister take the opportunity today to give a date for the introduction of this legislation? Will he also respond to the call from Women's Aid for an on-call system for accessing emergency barring orders that would afford women and children 24-7 security? Will he elaborate on his reluctance to sign the European Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence? I cited the Minister’s reply to a parliamentary question that I tabled in which he referred to concerns about emergency barring orders and property rights as his rationale for not ratifying the convention.

I do not want to be disappointed on this issue. Instead, I want to be encouraged and optimistic that the Government will take the right actions and not drag its feet on these matters. Will the Minister set out his concrete plans for introducing the consolidated legislation and on-call emergency barring orders and signing the European convention? Offering concrete dates for these three items will give some sense not just to Women's Aid but to the women who rely on its services that they are being heard and, when their experiences are recounted in this Chamber and elsewhere, that their stories are not falling on deaf ears.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Again, I thank the Deputies for their contributions. There is no one in this House who does not share the concern to ensure we have the best possible legal architecture to deal with domestic violence issues, as well as the necessary social and other supports for victims of such violence. As in other areas, however, we are constrained by the State’s financial difficulties. We do not have an open pot of money so we must make judgments as to what is necessary and what can be done in the context of our limited financial capacity.

In other countries there are not, as far as I know, 24-hour court services for accessing emergency barring orders. Here, if someone is forced to leave his or her home because of domestic violence, it is possible in emergency circumstances to seek a protection order in the courts within 24 hours.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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There is no capacity. The current services cannot cope.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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A protection order can be sought, whether or not Deputy McDonald is aware of it, at District Court level by way of an ex parte application by a wife who is a victim of domestic violence. By simply attending the District Court, a wife in such circumstances is afforded every assistance by the District Court clerks and these applications are dealt with in camera before District Court judges. As a family lawyer, on many an occasion I have made that type of application on behalf of a victim of domestic violence. In that context, a protection order is helpful.

I am an enthusiast for the European Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and would very much like Ireland to be a party to it. There is an issue, however, surrounding it. Where an individual is the sole and only owner of a home, an issue arises of whether that individual can be barred from the home under our Constitution. Successive Attorneys General have advised the Government that this is the only barrier to our signing the convention. I am not happy about this. Instead, I would very much like to be in a position to enact legislation that prescribes that where someone is the victim of domestic violence and resides with the perpetrator, then the perpetrator, even if he or she is the sole owner of the home, can at least be temporarily barred from it. There are difficulties, however, arising under Article 43 of the Constitution in this regard and I cannot ignore the advices on this.

I do not want to make any promises that I cannot deliver upon, but these are issues that we will explore further when consolidating legislation in this area as best we can. I cannot give the Deputy a definitive date for the publication of the Bill, but it is my aspiration that we publish it in 2014. Behind the scenes, a substantial amount of work has been done on a whole rake of reforms in family law which I hope will see the light of day in the coming months. I earlier referred to the proposal to provide for a separate and unified system of family courts that will inevitably result in our having to hold a constitutional referendum. Substantial work has been undertaken in my Department on a family, relationship and children Bill. There will be engagement with other colleagues in government on this. This Bill will bring about substantial reforms in family law and will be of great benefit to children and couples in a variety of different circumstances.

It is my aspiration that we will make substantial progress in these areas as we go through 2014. I look forward to the constructive contribution to the development of this legislation from Members. Indeed, I look forward to their constructive engagement in what I anticipate to be discussions and debate on the final structure of a new family court system and the constitutional provisions that should apply to it, as well as the manner in which we should deal with a whole range of family law issues, from child abuse to marriage breakdown to gay partnerships breaking up to custody and access disputes that occur between both marital and non-marital parents. There is an agenda of work on which I look forward to engaging with colleagues.

I thank the Deputies for raising this important and appropriate issue on the day Women's Aid has published its annual report.