Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have listened to many personal testimonies. It is fair to say that as women we have all experienced violence in our lives. It is incredible that we can all say that we have been a victim of violence. That is a really stark statistic - that half the population have been victims, yet it is almost seen as something acceptable. I am pleased we are having this debate, on foot of the murder of a lovely young woman, but, unfortunately, there have been many lovely young women, and middle aged women and older women, killed in this country. It is unfortunate that it has taken this event to get us to have this debate. If I was to stand here and read out the names of all the victims, I would use up all my time and probably go beyond it because, unfortunately, there have been too many women dying in this country at the hands of male violence in recent years.

I give my heartfelt condolences to the family of Ashling Murphy, and the awful trauma her community is going through - to think that a woman was out in the middle of the day minding her own business and something horrendous befell her. There is a trauma in that community and across the country.

I am pleased that we are going to get a whole-of-government approach because violence against women is endemic in society. We have all been subjected to demeaning and degrading language, sexist attitudes, microagression and casual sexual assaults on a daily basis, as Senator McGreehan outlined. To my shame, I could list ten or 12 instances of casual sexual assault that I have put up with, and did not feel I had the ability as a teenager or young woman in my 20s to speak up about. We cannot tolerate this any longer for young women. Senator Boylan outlined a very distressing incident that happened to her when she was a child, which reminded me of something. There was a flasher near our local school and on the way from our all-girls school to the bus we had to pass by this guy who flashed us all. It was a daily occurrence. Everyone thought it was a bit of craic, but it was not. I had forgotten it until Senator Boylan mentioned something similar. It was nearly that ordinary that it could be forgotten.

We need to be able to call out every bit of sexism as we see it and not be accused of not being able to take a joke, not being a bit of craic or being too politically correct or too woke. We need to start addressing it because all of this leads to the tragic incidences that we have seen. We are not anti-men. We all love men. We all have supportive male influences in our lives but, unfortunately, there is a toxic masculinity in Irish society that needs to be addressed. The patriarchy has allowed this to build up over generations and we are going to have to do something major to break up this intergenerational patriarchy. A comprehensive, up-to-date sexual education programme is needed. I want to home in on domestic violence, which is something I have spoken about in this House on many occasions. In my previous life as a solicitor, I represented a lot of victims of domestic violence. Women of all backgrounds and in all communities' experience domestic violence. There is a very high rate of women dying at the hands of an intimate partner in society and that needs to be tackled in a comprehensive fashion.

The Minister said she is going to take some suggestions from the House. I have some suggestions to make. The civil legal aid system is completely broken.There have been calls by Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, and other civil society groups to reform the civil legal aid system from top to bottom. I would like the Minister to undertake a comprehensive review of that. In tandem with that, the civil legal aid system in family law and domestic violence matters relies on the private practitioners panel. During the most recent recession the fees paid were cut down to a low level. As a result, now, if a woman goes that step, qualifies for legal aid, brings an application in the District Court, gets her legal aid certificate and then goes to look for a solicitor, she cannot find any legal representation because the fees have not increased at all. There is maybe a lack of political will to touch the legal aid figures fees paid, but this is having a direct impact. There are swathes of this country where women cannot get legal representation to seek a barring order or safety order.

The court infrastructure is woefully inadequate to deal with any family law matters. I am glad to see the big hole down in Hammond Lane has finally started construction. Again, I have been raising that for years in this House. While it is a progressive step, our courts infrastructure around the country is completely inadequate. Victims of domestic violence who are up against the perpetrators have to stand next to them in a crowded hallway. They are not able to consult their solicitor in privacy.

We need a State-run central maintenance collections agency. The State requires women who are in receipt of the one-parent family payment to seek maintenance from the fathers of their children. Then, when they get their maintenance order in the District Court, there may be somebody who is financially abusive, controlling and not paying over the maintenance. It is then up to them, the victim, to go perpetually chasing the perpetrator of violence to address this financial abuse. That should not be the way. Every other European country has a central maintenance collection agency. The lack of such an agency is allowing perpetrators to continually abuse and financially control women.

I have many other points to make, although I see that my time is up. However, I will be in correspondence with the Minister, because there are a number of practical and important steps that we can take as a State. We can come in here and talk, but unless there is action, it will be pointless.