Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House today for this debate and for all the work that she and her Department are doing. It was her intention anyway to come forward with the new policy. I have a lot of confidence in her to deliver a new strategy. It is a strategy that needs to be holistic. All of the answers do not come from the Department of Justice, but that Department and the Minister have the task of leading on this.

I extend my condolences again to the family, friends and community of Ashling Murphy and all the families, friends and communities that have been impacted by violence, particularly violence against women. With regard to my constituency, Dublin Central, I particularly want to send sympathy and support to the families of Urantsetseg Tserendorj and Amanda Carroll, who were murdered. Amanda Carroll was murdered in Cabra. Jennie Poole was a young woman murdered in Finglas.

Today we have all spoken about violence and the need for us to have a zero-tolerance approach to it. I agree with that, obviously, but we also need to recognise that violence has been very much normalised in our society. If we are to say our ambition is to have zero tolerance, we need to approach the task by recognising that something desperately destructive has become normalised in our society. We are aware of this from everyday encounters and real-life experiences that have been described by others, including every woman in this Chamber. Every woman has been affected by casual violence, insidious violence and undercover violence. It can be emotional, economical, physical or verbal. It is not limited to women. It is really important that we engage men in this conversation. To be fair to most men, they are very engaged in this conversation and with this subject. We need to support them and encourage their participation because they are as much of a solution as any of us.

Many of my colleagues and I have had conversations about this subject. I have a husband, a dad and two young adult sons, so I have had many conversations with men about violence. One man gave of his time to share his views with me. I cannot get over his generosity and strength. He was Jason Poole, Jennie's Poole's brother. He met me and Deputy McAuliffe, the Deputy in his area, who knows him well. Mr. Poole shared with us his experiences. I am not going to go into them in full detail. Jennie should not have had to experience what happened and her family and children should not have had to experience what happened. We, as a society, cannot tolerate what they have gone through.

I want to share some of the suggestions that Mr. Poole has made. Maybe at some point, as the Minister progresses with her work, we might be able to find time for her to talk to Mr. Poole directly. I do not know where he is finding the strength and generosity to share his views. The first thing he said — today's debate helps with this but it must go much further — is that we need to have greater awareness of the warning signs. He was focusing on domestic abuse and violence in particular because that is what killed his sister. He really does want action on a wider awareness campaign on the signs of domestic violence. He suggested there should be more sensitivity training for anyone in a role that involves engaging with victims. He spoke about everybody from gardaí to teachers and healthcare workers, in addition to staff from Tusla, local authorities and housing agencies. He wants greater social awareness of the signs. He commended the Garda for its work but believed there are specific actions that could be taken to improve how the Garda is equipped to respond to circumstances of domestic violence. In particular, he suggested having a dedicated garda in each unit responsible for championing responses to domestic violence and best practice in that regard. He talked about gardaí being trained and empowered to remove offenders from a situation. He said consideration should be given to giving powers to the chief superintendent to apply emergency barring and safety orders. He talked about the barring orders.

Senator Clifford-Lee and others mentioned the court process and free legal aid, all of which issues are part of the Minister's strategy to be addressed. Mr. Poole talked about the journey a victim of domestic abuse has to take and the decision to make a call and raise the flag. It is not just about the wraparound services, which are absolutely needed, but the journey the victim must take to go to the Garda, after which they must go to court. Mr. Poole gave clear and simple examples of actions that could be taken to provide better wraparound supports for victims in such circumstances. The victims are absolutely traumatised and it takes all their strength just to get through the next few moments.

Mr. Poole also spoke about the judges and the courts system. In this regard, he talked about training and awareness. He wants a register of offenders. He really believes the information should be in the public domain. If somebody has been a domestic abuser, their name should be on a register. The information should be available. Obviously, the individual should be supported through rehabilitation but, as a society, we need to have a register and a national programme to raise awareness and say loudly and clearly that zero tolerance is not just a catchphrase but something that we are all committed to in every element of our society, including schools and workplaces. We must ensure that we live in a safe community and country and that Ireland can be a country where every woman, girl, boy, man and transgender person can feel safe to live, work and enjoy life.