Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I very much welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Mary White. I hope she lives up to the great things expected of her. She has responsibility for equality and integration matters and it is great that she is in the House today.

The first issue I wish to address briefly is that this debate was largely been called for by the female Members of the House who account for roughly 20% of its membership. It is mainly they who have spoken on the matter. I very much welcome the fact that Senator Norris has spoken on it, as this is not just a matter for women, it is very much a matter for everyone in society.

On the various reports on the subject and the level of domestic violence in the country, Senator Norris mentioned that perhaps one in five women had been abused at some stage. The 2005 ESRI report stated that one in seven women had been abused. It also stated that one in 17 men had been abused. Therefore, domestic violence is not purely a gender issue.

Male physical abuse is not commonly acknowledged in society. Therefore, it is hard to know the extent of the problem. Figures for domestic violence are hard to quantify because much of it occurs behind closed doors and is not reported. What I have given are the reported figures. The figure that almost 500,000 women in the country have been abuse is startling. If one were to add together all of the women living in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, they would not number 213,000. That the incidence of domestic violence is higher than the number of women who live in these four cities is startling. However, that appears to be reality.

It is important that something should come out of this debate. We are in the midst of a recession. Senator Healy Eames referred to Waterside House, a women's refuge in Galway. In a recession people face difficult challenges. When I talked today to people in that refuge which was set up by COPE in 1981, they advised that the peak time when people tried to get into the refuge was Christmas, a time when people come together and have to face each other head on. It is difficult when people have to face each other without the distractions of work or daily life; that is often when violence erupts. A significant number of people are now unemployed and more partners have to face each other on a daily basis. This will probably lead to more violence and difficult situations. The people to whom I spoke told me that Government funding for the service was drying up, as is community funding and fund-raising, on which far more emphasis is put.

I also spoke to people at the Galway Rape Crisis Centre who told me that they had to raise €170,000 publicly simply to survive and provide the most basic of services. The centre has a male counsellor who I understand is the only male counsellor in the west, a stark statistic, and there is a long waiting list of people to see him.

Violence perpetrated against men is violence that dare not speak its name. Senator Norris referred to the issue which is often lost in a debate such as this, in which, unfortunately, not enough men participate. There is violence against men. The Minister of State has responsibility for equality and integration issues and I have been told time and again by various organisations that men are not equal in family law. That is the factual position.

Men who are responsible for violence is one issue but many men who experience physical, emotional, sexual or other forms of violence in the home find it difficult to deal with the problem on the basis that the law and services are not supportive to the extent necessary. If a man experiences domestic violence, where does he go and what does he do? His name is placed on a waiting list and he faces the danger that he, rather than his partner, will lose access to the couple's children, despite the fact that in some cases it is the man who is trying to protect the children. Men who are faced with these circumstances are not properly protected by the law. This is largely because men, unlike women, have not stood up and been counted in debates on the issue. This is wrong and men must become more involved in this area. This debate also makes a good case for having more women in politics.

I refer to an interesting one-day survey carried out on 4 November 2008 which showed that on the day in question, 263 women and 216 children were accommodated and received support from domestic violence services, 239 helpline calls were received from women and 17 women and 15 children were admitted to refuges, while six women could not be accommodated owing to a lack of space. In these recessionary times, we must ensure that in certain services the base line is not breached. While money is always a great difficulty in a recession, we must ensure the integrity of certain services is protected.

I concur with Senator Corrigan on the need for a safety audit. The delay between reporting and a barring orders being issued can be exacerbated when services are reduced in a recession. A safety audit is an important aspect of the overall process.

In 2008, according to the Courts Service report on 2008, a total of 10,401 applications were made for protective orders under the Domestic Violence Act 1996. In the same year, 1,251 barring orders, 1,502 safety orders, 2,955 protection orders and 445 interim barring orders were granted. The Garda recorded crime statistics for 2008 indicate there were 1,184 incidents of breaching of domestic barring order offences in that year alone. These resulted in 349 convictions, with 95% of the persons convicted men and the remaining 5% women.

Domestic violence is an important and serious issue which will not go away in a recession. Unfortunately, based on anecdotal evidence, the number of cases of domestic violence is likely to increase in a recessionary period. When we talk about base lines and matters of vital importance, we must bear in mind that domestic violence services are vital and their integrity must be retained. We can, however, take an imaginative approach to how we maintain these services. The current services cannot be treated as acceptable because it is necessary to continue to make progress in this area, regardless of the economic position.

I am pleased the Minister of State, Deputy Mary White, is present and that her portfolio does not come within the remit of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Domestic violence is largely a social problem for which many possible solutions can be found by working together as communities and using our imagination to protect people. We must act to ensure that years from now we do not experience the same horror and disgust we experienced as a result of the reports on institutional child sex abuse.