Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to the Seanad for statements on domestic violence and gender based violence. I apologise if I leave the Chamber without hearing the Minister's response because I must go to a committee. I will listen back to it.

Domestic violence is an issue that is particularly personal to me. We in Ireland have a very long way to go to improve on the issue. I welcome the recent improvements by this Government and the previous Government around coercive control and the implementation of divisional protective services units, which are very positive developments. It is also worth noting that the Government has supported great initiatives such as Operation Faoiseamh and the Still Here campaigns. I echo what other Senators have said, however, that it is not enough to just reference the campaigns or to namecheck them. It is absolutely essential that domestic violence services are modernised and backed up with the resources that assist them to carry out their vital work.

Reference was made to the Safe Ireland report. The figures are stark: 3,450 women and 589 children contacted a domestic violence service for the first time this year and 33,941 helpline calls were made, which averages at 184 calls per day. This is 184 cries for help every single day in this country. What is even more terrifying is that fact that between March and August of this year 1,351 requests for refuge went unmet because the services were full. This means that eight women a day were turned away because there was nowhere for them to go. Fleeing from a domestic violence situation comes with enormous risk. Consider the eight women a day who made that decision, who built up the courage to flee, and are then turned away because of the lack of refuge places. In nine counties in the State there is not even a refuge for women to go to. Not only is this a national scandal, it is also a breach of our legal obligations under the Istanbul Convention. I am aware that it was not during the Minister, Deputy McEntee's time, it was her predecessor Minister, Deputy Flanagan, when Ireland ratified the Istanbul Convention, but we are still failing to meet one of its basic asks. The Council of Europe convention is very clear when its sets out the obligation to provide a minimum number of refuge spaces, and that number is one refuge space for every 10,000 women in the population. Does the Minister accept that obligation under the convention? If she does, will the Minister correct the situation whereby we were misled by a previous Government Minister, former Deputy Zappone, that the number was one refuge space per 10,000 people in the population?This is clearly false. I hope that now we have a new Government and new Ministers, we will have an acceptance that that interpretation is false and that the resources will be made available to provide the necessary refuge spaces.

I also echo comments from others in welcoming the announcements of additional funding for Tusla. Will the Minister outline how much of that is being allocated to domestic violence services? The Department of Justice has additional funding to support its new strategy, Supporting a Victim's Journey, but what we hear from domestic violence services is that they have no clarity on how much of that will go to fund their services. Will the Minister clarify that for these organisations and give a commitment that the funding will be available to them, that it will be criteria led, that it will be fair, and that it will be regionally balanced?

Safe Ireland also reported that, every month, 15 women in refuge are unable to move on and free up those spaces for other women because there is literally no suitable accommodation for them to go to. I know it is not the responsibility of the Minister's Department to fix the housing crisis, and God knows it needs fixing, but will she give a commitment that these women will at least be counted in the homeless figures because currently they are not? They are part of that cohort of the hidden homeless that exist in this country.

My party leader, Deputy McDonald, and her colleague Deputy Louise O'Reilly introduced the domestic violence leave Bill to the Oireachtas last week. When I was in the European Parliament, I successfully introduced a report outlining why domestic violence leave is so critical and why financial security is so important for victims of domestic violence. This type of leave already exists in New Zealand, the Philippines and regionally in Canada and Australia. Apart from the personal emotional and psychological cost of domestic violence, it also results in excessive absenteeism from work and can reduce productivity. It puts victims at an increased risk of losing their financial independence. A British trade union-led study found that 2% of employees lost their employment as a result of absenteeism caused by domestic violence. Domestic violence leave will facilitate women to access court appointments and doctor appointments and to source alternative accommodation so that they can escape the situation that they are in. I ask that the Minister give a commitment to supporting this Bill as it progresses through the Houses.

I offer my solidarity to the women who have found themselves victims of image-based violence and image-based sexual abuse this week with the sharing of their intimate photos on online platforms. I think we were all shocked by what we read about those images being shared and the number of men who were involved in sharing those images, but I think what probably shocked us even more was the type of commentary that has followed from some quarters. It shows that we have a very long way to go in this country in tackling misogyny and victim blaming. I welcome the fact that the Minister has committed her support of Coco's law and I guarantee that Sinn Féin will not be found wanting in working with her and all of her colleagues across the Houses to ensure that this legislation is finally brought in and that it is fit for purpose. Although I think we do need firm commitments, I echo what others have said: we do need man to stand up. I welcome Senator Ward's comments and I think more of his colleagues need to start saying that publicly. I echo the comments of Senator Garvey around the importance of education. I would like to hear the Minister say that she will go to Cabinet, and that they will develop a strategy to address victim blaming, misogyny, and attitudes towards consent in this country because we have a long way to go.