Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Lockdown has left us with a legacy of domestic violence. Early in lockdown, I spoke extensively about this issue and warned of the dangers, as did many of the organisations who deal with it on a daily basis. It became a powder keg for already difficult situations. In hidden homes, people were experiencing violence and felt they had nowhere to go. The Garda followed up on all previous incidents of domestic violence to ensure that women and men were getting help. However, we now have a legacy that we must deal with.

The programme for Government is the first such programme to mention sexual violence and domestic violence. We really need to look at it immediately because it is not just a matter of how we deal with the actual incidents. Courts were sitting throughout lockdown and barring and protection orders were being given. We have to look at the causes, however. One of the really powerful things within the programme for Government is that we look at prevention of domestic violence, not just dealing with its consequences. I ask the Leader to expedite this in order that we can see some early movement. We are talking a lot about the economic consequences but there are also social consequences that need immediate action. Yesterday we listened to the Irish medical officers speaking about 35 incidents of domestic violence occurring before people actually identified to authorities that they were suffering. As such it not just about how we deal with it through the court system, it is the prevention that we really need to look at.