Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I draw the attention of the House to a report launched yesterday by Women's Aid, which documents the findings of a survey it conducted with the support of Red C Research and Marketing into relationship abuse, specifically relationship abuse among young people aged 18 to 25 in Ireland. The research was done over the course of two years and the findings are stark. It has prompted Women's Aid to launch a campaign entitled "Too Into You".

The findings tell us that more than half of our young people have experienced or known someone who has experienced intimate relationship abuse. One in five young women and one in 11 young men in Ireland have suffered intimate relationship abuse. In all cases where women were subjected to intimate relationship abuse, their abuse was perpetrated by someone who was very close to them, a former or existing intimate partner. For young women, the abuse lasted longer than one year, almost one and a half years. One in six young women and one in 13 young men have been subjected to coercive control by a partner or an ex-partner. What coercive control means is a persistent, insidious controlling pattern of behaviour that intrudes on the person's independent sense of self and self-security. The findings are stark. Of the young women affected, 51% first experienced the abuse before they were 18 years of age. That robbed those young women and girls of their childhood.

Copies of the report have been circulated to all Members of the Oireachtas. It is incumbent on all of us to draw public attention to the findings of this report, raise awareness about what constitutes abuse, support victims of abuse and let them know it is okay to speak out and that help is available, and for us all to respond to them. I commend Women's Aid on the report and also the campaign it is launching and I encourage every Member of the House to support it.