John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I did. I did some research on this issue before I came into the House and I note that in recent weeks a fair deal of print media space has been devoted to violence against women in particular. I read a statistic from a 1997 report entitled, The Analysis of Cohort, to the effect that on average a woman who is assaulted by her partner or ex-partner has to be assaulted 35 times before a report is made to the police about such an assault. That is an astonishing statistic and there are more statistics that other people read into the record today.

I am glad to have the opportunity to express my support for those bodies and agencies helping women who are victims of violence. I was contacted by a number of agencies, including the Rape Crisis Centre in Kilkenny, Women's Aid in Carlow and other agencies in my area which expressed great interest in this debate and were adamant about putting their views forward. Most of them were concerned that in recent years funding for the area of violence against women appears to have remained fairly stagnant. We all know that problems with inflation mean a significant decrease in real terms in funding for these areas. This is one sector which could do with considerably more funding.

One reason cases are not reported is the lack of avenues available to women in a vulnerable position, a point the Leader raised. Where can women go after making a complaint? Research from 1995 found that the single biggest reason women did not leave violent partners was that they had nowhere to go. This is a matter of fear. While people are in a violent situation they may feel that at least they know that situation and are masters of all they survey. People are afraid that if they leave those circumstances there will be no supports in place for them and, frankly, the supports are inadequate. There are 15 refuges in the State which are constantly full, so clearly they cannot cater for all the women presenting for their facilities. This sector is in dire need of a financial injection rather than cutting back or keeping funding at current levels.

On average, 22 cases of domestic violence occur every day. That means 22 women will be abused in some way by their partners today, which is a startling statistic. I urge the Minister of State, the Department and the Government to do their utmost to ensure funding for this area is increased in the future.

I have not heard education mentioned yet but part of the secondary school curriculum could deal specifically with domestic violence, whether it is violence perpetrated by men against women or by women against men. That should also be examined in the future.