Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this important matter. I thank the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State for their work and commitment in this area. So much has been done on gender-based violence, especially towards women. I am grateful for all the work they have done and I am grateful that it is a priority. It has been spoken about a great deal in both Houses in recent times.

Senators will be aware that many victims of gender-based crime find it difficult to report it when something happens. I have found this is especially true if there is a language barrier. I have been working with a company in Limerick that worked with the Department of Justice when it was part of the EU inHERE project, on the basis of which it developed its continuous professional development, CPD, accredited training for interpreters. So many interpreters are coming to Ireland. With refugees coming here as well, we are going to have to depend so much on people being able to break down the language barrier. While some of the refugees who will come here will have English, not all of them will. As a result, the matter I raise is important. Women's Aid reported that calls from non-English speakers through its multi-language helpline increased by 90% in 2020 in comparison with 2019. That is a big increase. Of all of the minority groups who sought help from Women's Aid, 93% were migrant women, which is a very high number. Apart from Women's Aid, many other Irish organisations deal with non-native English speakers in the context of sexual violence.

I look forward to hearing what the Minister of State has to say. This is an issue which needs to be highlighted more.