Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will just make a few brief comments to note the passage of the legislation. It is ground-breaking. I commend the Minister and his officials who worked so hard on it over a lengthy period. I commend the Minister's predecessor, former Minister Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, on her pioneering work in steering this legislation into the Oireachtas initially. As others have said, there has been a great deal of legislative scrutiny and legislative improvement as the Bill has passed through both the Seanad and the Dáil. I commend all my colleagues involved in this, particularly Senator Colette Kelleher, who really did so much to co-ordinate our efforts in the Seanad to ensure the legislation was strengthened and improved as it passed through. The Senator has expressed very eloquently the really pressing need for this legislation in terms of the impact of so-called domestic violence or violence in an intimate setting on so many women across Ireland, including, very tragically, the women who died at the hands of partners or former partners. We are all very mindful of the really serious nature of the abuse, assault and criminal activity that we are seeking to deal with in this legislation.

I very much welcome the creation of the new offence of coercive control, which we debated extensively in this House, the identification of an intimate relationship as an aggravating factor in sentencing, and the fact that we will now have a list of factors and circumstances for judges to take into account in determining applications for a domestic violence order. The latter was a crucial provision that many of us sought.

I welcome very much the procedural changes we have brought in through the legislation. I refer to the restrictions on cross-examination of a person, the power to hear evidence by video link and the power to hold breach hearings in camera. All of us will recognise the improvements these measures and others will make in practice for the very many women and others experiencing domestic violence.

I look forward to working in the future to ensure the implementation of the legislation and to ensure we will meet our commitments under the Istanbul Convention so we can ratify it. I echo what Senator Kelleher said in this regard. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy David Stanton, for their commitment on this issue.