Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to begin today like many others by offering my deepest condolences to Ashling Murphy's family, friends and partner. As a woman, every time we hear another woman has been murdered, there is that wrenching feeling of horror and fear and then that is quickly followed by anger. The anger relates to the fact that we continue to live in a misogynistic society. While as a country we have come so far on so many issues, the reality is that we still have a long way to go to break the silence of violence against women.

Some 244 women have been murdered in Ireland since 1996 and 152 of them were killed in their own home; the place they are meant to be safe. Telling women what they need to do to be safe - download apps, carry rape alarms and legalise mace - not only misses the point but is also mentally exhausting for us. We know what we have to do because we have been doing it since time immemorial. To be frankly honest, there is nothing more as women that we can do. It is well past time that we focus on the perpetrators and not the victims.

The sad reality is that due to the systemic nature of violence against women in society, girls learn at a very early age that the very fact that they are female brings additional risk to how they have to live their lives. I found out at the age of eight. I was alone on a school corridor at an after-school event and a man tapped on the window, called me over and proceeded to masturbate in front of me. To this day, that man's face is etched in my memory because that shatters your innocence. That was the first instance but it was certainly not the last.

I doubt that there is a woman in this Chamber who has not experienced sexual harassment or worse. Women are tired of telling their stories. What we want now is men in society to step up and be allies. Enough from the "not all men" brigade because the first death threat I received online was from a man who took offence to me saying that we should teach our boys not to rape. What we need now is for men to listen and learn, and not be defensive but receptive.

Alongside men needing to step up, so too does the political system. To tackle a problem, the first step we need to take is to realise the scale of that problem. We need better data on gender-based crime and a sexual violence survey. We need full implementation of the domestic homicide review. As others have said, having somewhere to go if one is experiencing domestic violence cannot be a postcode lottery. It is simply unacceptable that nine counties in this country have no refuge space for somebody who needs to escape. We need the domestic violence leave Bill that is being brought forward by Sinn Féin to be progressed and fully enforced.

In the time I have left, I wish to address something else. Those who seek to stir up racism or to exploit issues of violence against women whenever a woman is attacked need to stop it because unfortunately, all women know that male violence against women comes from men of all backgrounds, nationalities and ages. Unfortunately, misogyny is endemic in society. Likewise, I remind those who want to see an end to violence against women that this must also include protection for transgender women because feminism that excludes our trans sisters is not feminism.

I really hope that we have reached a tipping point in Ireland on violence against women and that we can finally move away from talking about ending violence against women to actually ending it. I hope we do not need to come in and share our stories but can now hand over and let men start to take control of the things they need to do to end this, to start to stand up and, as Senator Ward said earlier, to call it out when they see it. Then, we follow with the political actions that need to happen. I know there will be full support across the political spectrum for those actions because this has to stop. We have to break the cycle of violence against women.