Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased that this debate is taking place and I thank Senator Ruane for engaging on it. I am here, as Minister, to hear her views and take her advices on the issue. I will do that because sexual violence is a sensitive issue and a gross violation of the individual, not only physically but psychologically and emotionally. Due to the complexities, undertaking a survey into the prevalence of sexual violence raises a lot of issues. The scoping group has given preliminary consideration to the key issues and further intensive work is now under way to resolve a number of technical issues. I am sure Senator Ruane will agree that it is important that any survey which is undertaken will take full account of the care due to individuals who will be answering questions of great sensitivity, as well as to those who actually conduct the survey. It is also essential to have a sufficiently large number of respondents to any survey so that we will be able to draw statistically robust conclusions.

Once the outstanding technical matters are resolved, I will bring proposals to Government and I expect to do so shortly. Once the report has been considered by the Government, it will be possible to be more specific about the recommendations but, in the meantime, I would be very happy to engage further with Members of the Seanad. I very much welcome their views.