Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Cathaoirleach in celebrating the Greek independence day and commend him on his international approach to being Cathaoirleach of the Seanad. He has touched many countries and friends of Ireland in that role.

I support the Order of Business and there are two matters I want to raise. The first is to put on the record of the House for consideration and reflection by Members Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention a number of days ago, which is highly regrettable. That may not go far enough as the act is abhorrent and it is reprehensible for the country to remove itself from an international convention to protect women and girls from domestic violence and which tries to eradicate the scourge of domestic violence that is moving swiftly across all countries in the world.

It is hard to understand how any country, having signed and ratified the Council of Europe Convention ten years ago would take such a regressive step. We know Turkey is hoping to join the European Union and it has begun that process. I am deeply disappointed by the response of European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and her team, which have really just expressed strong words of regret and disappointment about Turkey's actions but have not taken any further steps. We need a stronger response from the EU to a country like Turkey when it takes these actions. It has consistently taken steps that fly in the face of European Union values. One of the reasons given by the Turkish Government for withdrawing from the convention is that they believe a gender-based approach to this matter undermines family values and promotes homosexuality. These are the words coming from the Turkish Government.