Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I urge the Minister to join the 29 member states of the European Union that have signed the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In this context, I welcome the announcement that Facebook has finally bowed to pressure concerning the potential for content on its site to promote violence against women. The company confirmed last Tuesday that it would remove supposedly humorous content endorsing rape and domestic violence. An example of this was a picture of Rihanna's face covered in bruises - I hope it is acceptable to mention the likes of Rihanna on the Order of Business - with the caption "Chris Brown's Greatest Hits". That is supposed to be funny but is actually horrendous. Facebook has also agreed to update its policies on hate speech and increase the accountability of content creators. This development marks an important victory for various women's rights activists. It is difficult to comprehend how such offensive material was allowed to remain on the site. I applaud this development in the light of the disturbing statistic that one in five women in this country has been subjected to domestic violence. On more than 2,500 occasions women and their children could not be accommodated-----