Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I thank all Senators who took part in this debate. It has been wonderful for me to have the first debate in my new portfolio in this House on an issue that is so significant for all of us and one on which I have been working for years. I thank Senator McDonald for her persistence in getting this debate here. Let us hope we have many more debates of this quality, whether on women in politics, violence against women or other issues of equality on which I would be very happy to engage. This is an issue we must highlight and about which we must do something. We should not leave these reports sitting on shelves, but implement them. If we need to change the legislation to achieve that, we must consider doing so. Before I address some of the Senators' remarks, I would like to make some comments on matters I did not address earlier.

The Government takes domestic violence very seriously. It is a heinous crime with serious consequences for victims. I take the opportunity to say something about aspects of domestic violence I did not deal with in any great detail in my earlier statement. Some Senators addressed the issue of the prevalence of domestic violence in Ireland. It is not easy to obtain good data on this. This is often owing to the hidden nature of the crime and the reluctance of victims to report it. We have, however, empirical data on the prevalence of the problem in the national study of domestic abuse published by the National Crime Council in 2005. According to the study, some 15% of women and 6% of men have experienced severely abusive behaviour from their partner at some stage or on some occasion over the course of their lifetime. The percentage is much higher if minor incidents are taken into account. The study found that where severe abuse and minor incidents are combined, 29% of women and 26% of men suffer domestic abuse at some stage in their lifetime. In other words, almost a third of all women and a quarter of all men experience some form of domestic violence at some stage. This underlines the seriousness of the problem and the magnitude of the task faced in tackling the problem.

Increasing knowledge about the problem is the key to making progress on dealing with it. In 2008, Cosc carried out a survey of attitudes of the Irish public to domestic abuse that came up with some interesting findings. One of the main findings was that a majority of the population exhibits a high level of awareness of the problem of domestic abuse. People perceive domestic abuse to be a common and increasing problem. They have a broad understanding of what constitutes domestic abuse and regard it as unacceptable. These are broadly positive findings. In terms of responding to domestic abuse, the study showed that people feel responsible and are willing to intervene if they witness it. However, if the victim is somebody outside the family circle, such as a neighbour whom they do not know well, people are reluctant to become involved. An understandable concern or fear of making things even worse is the main reason given for not becoming involved.

The survey provides a baseline for understanding public attitudes to domestic abuse in Ireland. Cosc is using the survey to inform work being undertaken to improve the system of prevention and responses to domestic violence. This includes the development of accessible information for the public to assist them to understand and be prepared to take appropriate action to counter these crimes. A practical example of such information is, as I mentioned in my earlier statement, the details of local and national support services on Cosc's website at www.cosc.ie.

Once the problem has been identified, it should be reported and dealt with through the provision of direct services to victims. One of the areas being examined to improve service provision to victims is the one-stop-shop facility. I touched on this idea in my opening statement. The primary purpose of such a facility would be to reduce the number of locations and organisations that victims of domestic violence must visit to receive basic support services. The main partners in such a resource may be from very different backgrounds. They may be from the justice sector, housing services and community-based support services. There is potential for a one-stop-shop facility to provide great benefit to victims of domestic violence and to benefit the support services contributing to the project. In a one-stop shop, each organisation is clearly committed to focusing on the victim. This should facilitate joint working to deliver effective support services to the victim to overcome the negative consequences of domestic violence. Where the model has already been used elsewhere, there have, by and large, been positive outcomes in terms of reduced rates of repeat victimisation and increased rates of reporting. Moreover, the model may well be able to improve co-ordination and co-operation between various service providers.

As well as victims in domestic violence cases, there are also perpetrators. It is important to work with perpetrators to help create genuine changes in their behaviour to prevent further victimisation. Domestic violence perpetrator programmes in Ireland are delivered through a combination of non-governmental organisations and the probation and welfare service. In the past 15 years or so, a network of perpetrator programmes has developed throughout the country. The nature of the programmes delivered differ in most cases. The national strategy includes an action to strengthen measures to deal with domestic violence perpetrators. A particular focus will be on devising means of ensuring greater effectiveness of the programmes. Through the establishment of a domestic violence perpetrator programme committee, Cosc will, in consultation with programme managers, develop and implement a plan to strengthen perpetrator programmes. There is a specific action in the national strategy to update the law on domestic violence to give further protection to victims.

The most widely availed of remedy in Ireland in cases of domestic violence has been the civil law remedies under the Domestic Violence Acts of 1996 and 2002. Applications under the Acts are family law cases and are heard in private. The Acts provide for the protection of a spouse and any children or other dependent persons, and of persons in other domestic relationships whose safety or welfare requires it because of the conduct of another person in the domestic relationship concerned. Contravention of any order under the Acts is a criminal offence and therefore subject to sanctions under the criminal law. The Acts provide for the issue, variation or renewal by a court of the following orders: a safety order, which prohibits the abuser from further violence or threats of violence and can last up to five years; and a barring order, which requires that the violent person leave the family home.

When an application for either of the above orders has been accepted by the court, the applicant is given a date for a court hearing. The waiting time varies in different parts of the country. There are two ways the court can protect the applicant awaiting the hearing for one of the above orders. The first is by way of a protection order. This is granted if the court thinks there are reasonable grounds to believe the safety and welfare of the applicant is at risk. The second order which can be made pending a hearing is an interim barring order. If the court is of the view that a protection order would not be sufficient to protect the applicant awaiting a court date, then an interim barring order is granted. The domestic violence legislation aims to address the accountability of offenders and strengthen the protection of victims through review and any necessary improvement of domestic violence legislation.

I would like to address one or two of the issues raised during the debate. With regard to suggested shortcomings in domestic violence legislation, the national strategy specifically provides for addressing these. One of the strategy's actions provides for the updating of domestic violence legislation to give further protection to victims. The views of Senators will inform further work in this area and we will keep this in mind. I am glad Senator Healy Eames is present as she raised the issue of the importance of disclosure of domestic violence in accident and emergency departments and general practitioner surgeries. It is known that, in general, reporting of domestic violence through professionals is still strikingly low. The national strategy includes a specific action to ensure a reasonable opportunity is provided to the victim for disclosure of domestic violence.

Many other issues were raised during the course of the debate but I cannot possibly deal with all of them. I assure Senators I have listened intently to their views. As a new Minister of State, I am in listening mode and will take on board what I have heard and it will inform consideration of actions to address the domestic violence issue. The Government is committed to tackling the problem of domestic violence. That commitment was reflected in the priority given to the preparation of the national strategy and is reflected in its implementation. It is expected the strategy will drive greater progress in dealing with the domestic violence problem and, ultimately, deliver greater safety for victims and potential victims.