Mary Henry (Independent)

I thank Senator Norris for sharing time with me. I was astonished to note the recent lack of understanding of domestic violence by a District Court judge. On a Wednesday he told a woman, who withdrew her case for assault within the home, that he had come across a similar case on the Monday, that he was fed up of women crying wolf and that he was going to take action against them in the future. It shows such a lack of understanding of domestic violence. As other speakers have said, those women may have been terrified of what might happen to their children. Some further education is needed in that area.

Senator Norris referred to the over-representation of Traveller women among those who seek help in the refuges. I do not have figures for migrant women who seek help. This is a group that needs to be considered. I am delighted the Leader is in the House because I heard her nephew, the Minister of State with responsibility for children, speak at the Irish association. He said he wished people would talk about a multiethnic society rather than a multicultural society. This point is important because some of our immigrants have different cultures. However bad our culture is, we must recognise that domestic violence is worse in some other cultures. The domestic violence Bill was introduced in India only in recent days after 30 years lobbying for its introduction. Changes have been made in Pakistan in the recent past as they have in eastern Europe, from which we have many migrants. There is more violence in some of those communities than we might be prepared to admit.

Women who come here are frequently isolated by their inability to speak English, by lack of money and by being controlled by the threat that they will be deported from the country if they go to the police. If Women's Aid or any other organisation needs interpreter services, they should be supplied. The courts and accident and emergency units should also have such services. The late Dr. Fiona Bradley carried out a survey some years ago in the casualty department at St. James's Hospital. If a woman presented, whom staff believed might have been beaten up, they ensured she was interviewed separately by a female nurse or female doctor. In approximately one third of cases they found domestic violence had been the cause of the injury. There was often a long delay of up to a week in reporting fractures. If help with interpreting is needed in those cases, it is most important. From patients coming to me for elective procedures, I have frequently met patients who did not speak English and were accompanied by a man claiming to be the husband. Men are more likely to be working in the community and get a better command of English faster than their partners. Health care professionals are at a terrible disadvantage when asking questions through someone else whom they might suspect as being involved in the injuries the woman sustained.

Owing to the issue of isolation, we are not discovering the problems that some women are experiencing. As we know too well, some of these women get diverted into the sex trade. The murder two years ago of a woman involved in the sex trade remains unexplained with no apparent lead. We need to address the isolation of such people, as it is even more difficult for them than it is for Irish people.