Results 61-80 of 1,072,797 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:David Stanton) in 'Committee meetings'

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Shane Moynihan: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as ucht an deis labhairt ar an ábhar fíorthábhachtach seo. I commend the Minister on the interest he has taken in the matter since taking office. I also commend the Minister, Deputy McEntee on the correct focus she placed on the importance of us as a society dealing with the legacy and trauma inflicted by domestic, gender-based and...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Paula Butterly: Domestic violence continues to impact thousands of lives in our communities. The need for support services has never been greater. The Minister recently said that Ireland has a very big problem when it comes to domestic violence. Cases have risen dramatically. In my constituency of Louth, we have seen a 52% increase over five years and nearly 27% of an increase between 2023 and 2024. I...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Louise O'Reilly: I pay tribute to Women's Aid on its 50th anniversary. I wish to read out the number for anyone that needs it: 1800 341900. We obviously wish there was no need for Women's Aid but there is, and its work is getting harder and more complex. Some of the earlier speakers mentioned the normalising of domestic abuse, and we cannot allow that to happen. We have to speak clearly and with one...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Gary Gannon: It appears that every single day we wake up to another horrifying headline. Every single week, women in this country read the worst imaginable stories, imagining that it could happen to them. This week, we have once again heard the name Jennifer Poole. Jennifer was 24 when she was brutally stabbed to death in her home in Finglas. She was killed by a man with a long history of violence...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Jen Cummins: In the 1990s, I worked in London at a domestic violence project to support Irish women in my job in a school completion programme. Every single year, we supported children who were growing up in families where domestic violence was an everyday occurrence. My doctoral research found that the number of young people who left school before the leaving certificate was due to violence in the...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Rory Hearne: The connections between the housing crisis, homelessness and domestic violence have been shown over and over again. The state of the housing emergency is having direct impacts on women and their children being unable to flee situations of violence. Indeed, front-line domestic violence services repeatedly raise concerns that the housing crisis is forcing victims to either stay with the...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Sinéad Gibney: Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a scourge on our society that continues to grow. I commend the focus the Minister's predecessor brought to this issue in her term of office as Minister for Justice and the establishment of Cuan as an agency, but we have so much work to do in the Minister's portfolio in the justice sector to continue to equip the courts and front-line services to...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Séamus McGrath: I thank the Minister for facilitating this debate. As many speakers have said, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a significant issue throughout our country. At the extreme end of it, 275 females have died violently in this country since 1996. That is a huge number. An Garda Síochána has said that in 2024, it dealt with 65,000 domestic abuse calls alone. The...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Erin McGreehan: I welcome the Minister today. It is great to have an opportunity to speak on this matter. I stand in full solidarity with every single woman, survivor and child who has been torn apart and asunder, often physically and emotionally, by domestic, sexual or gender-based violence. Every single day of the week, we are confronted by harrowing stories, brutal killings, names of women we read in...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Réada Cronin: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important debate. Cases of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence are at a crisis point. Women's Aid was founded in 1974 and it has been instrumental in responding to the needs of women over the past 50 years. Having begun as a small service, it has grown into a national organisation that directly supports thousands of women throughout the...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Ciarán Ahern: 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...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a major problem in society that affects many women and children. The Government and the Minister are committed to tackling it. The Government is delivering on the commitments in the zero-tolerance strategy to achieve a society in which sexual violence and the toxic attitudes that fuel it are not accepted. Since taking office, the Minister has...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Denise Mitchell: It was very upsetting to read in the Women's Aid annual report that the organisation has received the highest number of domestic abuse reports in its 50-year history. While I acknowledge the work of the previous Minister, Deputy McEntee, we have a lot more to do. When it comes to domestic refuge spaces this Government is still failing in its legal obligation to provide them. This is...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Mark Ward: I am going to read out some statistics from last year. There were over 45,000 reports of domestic abuse to Women's Aid, over 22,000 contacts to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, over 49,000 domestic abuse incidents recorded by gardaí and over 65,000 domestic abuse calls recorded by gardaí. Behind every single one of these statistics is a person and they are mainly women, like the...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Statements (10 Jul 2025)

Robert O'Donoghue: The need to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence has never been more urgent. It is not merely a matter of rising numbers; it is an epidemic. Women and children across the country are facing violence in their homes, which should be their safest space. Recent research shows us one in four women in Ireland, as well as one in seven men, will experience violence over the course of...