Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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On 19 January this year, this House stood collectively behind the community of Tullamore and the family of Ashling Murphy following her untimely and violent death at the hands of a man in plain sight of onlookers. The good, decent people of Ireland stood, as we stood inside this House, in every town in Ireland in solidarity, in a massive public demonstration against violence against women. Violence by men against women was a theme universally condemned in this House. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste alike said we would do everything possible to prevent a crime of that kind from ever happening again. However, the reality is that violence against women of one kind or another is an all-too everyday occurrence. There is a spectrum of violence, from harassment to sexual assault, physical and emotional violence, to femicide. This remains grounded in a culture where women still make changes to their lives that do not need to be considered by men in the same way. These include changes to exercise plans, commuting plans, fear of the stranger, fear in their own community and fear in their own home.

In January this year, I took the opportunity to read into the record of the Dáil the names of the other women who we know lost their lives at the hands of a man over the past 27 years. I said then and will say now that it does not matter where women live or what they do, since, by their simple existence, women's lives are at risk from men who they know and do not know in a way that is just not replicated for men. It is an everyday problem which requires an all-of-society, everyday response by us, the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan and Deputy Alan Farrell, who has been an ally on this and stood with me on so many evenings to raise this important issue again and again.

Throughout this year, I have sought to try to keep this issue alive, not just in January, but throughout the year, by being consistent in recognising it and naming in this House all of the women who we know died at the hands of men over the past 27 years, as identified by Women's Aid. I have sought to give them equivalent recognition, insofar as we can, to the recognition that this House gave to Ashling Murphy and her family in January of this calendar year, though it seems so long ago at this point. Many of those women were migrants. Many were of different ages, colours and communities, but all of them died violently and needlessly. For the final time, I draw the House's attention to those women who died in the last two months, November and December, over the past 27 years.

The 17 women who died in November in that period are Kitty Fitzgerald, Regina O'Connor, Fabiole Camara De Campos, Carmel Breen, Mary Cully, Mary Kelehan, Ciara Ní Chathmhaoil, Noeleen Brennan, Alicia Brough, Sarah Hines, Dearbhla Keating, Baiba Saulite, Yvonne O'Shea, Marie Dillon, Susan Dunne, Marguerite O'Dwyer and Eileen Costello O'Shaughnessy.

The 25 women who died in December in that time are Marilyn Rynn, Sophie Toscan du Plantier, Belinda Pereira, Geraldine Diver, Siobhan Hynes, Sheila Lynch, Jean Reilly, Jennifer Wilkinson, Sandra Collins, Susan Prakash, Sr. Philomena Lyons, Lisa Bell, Christine Quinn, Ann Flynn, Colleen Mulder, Sylvia Roche Kelly, Celine Cawley, Rebecca Hoban, Sharon Whelan, Sara Staunton, Angelique Belling, Valerie Greaney, Rose Hanrahan, Nadine Lott and Zeinat Bashabsheh.

This year, 2022, has itself been a year of significant violence against women. There has been significant progress from the Department of Justice, but despite our efforts in January to call it out in the way this House so collectively did, it has still been a very difficult year for women suffering at the hands of men, largely, and there is still much yet to be done. That is why I have raised the issue of funding in particular with the Minister of State.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Carroll MacNeill for raising this important matter of funding for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, services. As the she is aware, Zero Tolerance, the new national strategy to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence was launched earlier this year. It is an ambitious five-year programme of reform and a whole-of-society plan of action. Implementation of the strategy is a whole-of-government priority that is backed up by a substantial funding commitment under budget 2023. An extra €9 million for 2023, which is a 22% increase, and record funding for combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence was secured. This extra €9 million includes increased funding of €6.8 million for organisations funded by Tusla, and this is being made available through a targeted funding call.

The Government has been clear it is our intention that every person who needs a refuge space will have access to one and that victims have access to supports when and where they need them. This extra €6.8 million will be used to maintain existing services, address existing acute demand, and for the enhancement and development of new services. Approximately €1.1 million for safe accommodation will be focused on the priority locations identified under the third national strategy. Under the funding call there is an emphasis on supporting projects to address geographic need for those with additional vulnerabilities or complex needs and for supports for young people who have experienced sexual violence.

There is €2.3 million available to domestic violence services to address acute sustainability and service demand pressures, support organisations to provide greater coverage in rural areas and for children's support services. There is €900,000 available for sexual violence services to meet the needs of younger people and address geographical gaps in provision. This brings the total allocated to Tusla up to €37 million for funding DSGBV services.

Separate to the funding of DSGBV services, the Department of Justice has allocated €6.09 million for other measures to tackle DSGBV, including through awareness-raising campaigns and funding for perpetrator programmes, which are targeted intervention programmes to hold perpetrators to account and which work to prevent future reoffending. The Department of Justice has also allocated a further €5.8 million to promote and assist the development of specific support services for victims of crime within the criminal justice system, and this includes victims of domestic and sexual crime. These services provide important information and support, such as emotional support, court accompaniment, accompaniment to Garda interviews or sexual assault treatment units, and referral to other services.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response, but on 8 March, which is International Women’s Day, there were 744 women available for sex purchase on Internet sites in this State. Somewhere between 15% and 100% of those were trafficked migrants. There remains no refuge in Dún Laoghaire. We have a massive cultural problem with this issue. It is a systemic historical cultural problem but it remains a cultural problem. Most of the women I have mentioned were killed by men they knew, men they lived with, men they were in an intimate relationship with or with whom they had had a child.

I thank the Minister of State for being here and doing this. It is not the first time he has acknowledged this with me and I am grateful. I am not completely sure, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, what the value of this is here at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday, with yourself, myself, the Minister of State, Deputies Alan Farrell and Christopher O’Sullivan, along with Oireachtas staff, but there is some value over the year in doing this. My team and I certainly learned so much more about the various women, including who they were, their age, how they died, the circumstances and something of their family, where possible. It has not always been easy and I thank in particular my staff who helped with research but, more importantly, conscientiously marked the anniversaries, and there were sometimes multiple anniversaries on a given day, on my social media and allowed it to be tracked in that way. I hope we have not upset any family in doing so but it was an effort to try have these women's deaths marked beyond this House and into the community. Sometimes though, when I look at the reactions in the emails and the comments, I feel it perhaps does have significance to try to create remembrance beyond the pain of the family, which is obviously unquestioned, out in the wider community. This the same community that stood up against violence in January 2022 and will do again, I hope, in January 2023 and, indeed, every year thereafter until this scourge is no more.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I again thank the Deputy for raising a very important matter. She has been consistent in raising this important and serious issue since she became a Member of Dáil Éireann, and I am very conscious of that. I am confident combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a priority that is not going to drop off the agenda, and I have no doubt the Deputy will ensure focus on it is maintained. That commitment is evident in a number of areas, including the unprecedented funding of €363 million underpinning the strategy and by strong oversight and co-ordination at central government level.

Last week I attended the launch by Ruhama of its latest report, heard some of the harrowing stories from women who have been trafficked and heard about the violence and dehumanisation they had to suffer as a result. The importance of ensuring the supports are put in place was mentioned. I also had a chance to visit the Aoibhneas refuge out in Coolock, and only today I was talking to the Wexford Rape Crisis Centre about trying to secure additional funding for it. This is happening throughout Ireland. We must all make a collective effort to ensure not only that violence is prevented and stopped but also that it remains at the top of the agenda for the Government and for this Dáil to ensure there continues to be additional funding and that the plan for the roll-out of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence refuges is implemented as quickly as possible so that supports are in place where and when people need them.