Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber for these important statements on moving towards zero tolerance of violence against women. It is an everyday occurrence that women make a choice whether to walk down an empty and poorly-lit road or walk a longer but safer way home. It is an everyday occurrence that women decide to cross the road rather than walk in the middle, sometimes in a group of people, and it is an everyday occurrence for many women to fear their partner walking in the door or being abused online. It has been 39 days since Bruna Fonseca was found dead in Cork city, it has been 53 days since Natalie McNally was killed in County Armagh and it has been one year and 28 days since Ashling Murphy was killed in County Offaly. Women's Aid has noted 256 incidents of women dying violently between 1996 and 22 January this year, with one in every two femicide victims being killed by a current or former male intimate partner. Some 163 of these women have been killed in their homes. Women's lives depend on our action to prevent all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in society and, therefore, I fully support the Government's zero tolerance strategy to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which was published last year, but more can and should be done.

First and foremost, there should be a full assessment of the compatibility of our relevant national laws with the provisions of the Istanbul Convention and amendments to the relevant Acts, as required, to ensure full compliance without delay. The Istanbul Convention was signed by Ireland on 5 November 2015, was ratified on 8 March 2019 and came into force on 1 July 2019. It created a comprehensive legal framework for combating violence against women and it placed a focus on the prevention of domestic violence, the protection of victims and the prosecution of offenders. It also requires that Ireland exercise due diligence regarding violence against women. Annually, the domestic abuse services receive more than 50,000 phone calls from more than 11,000 women and 3,500 children. As we know from the reports, not all callers can be accommodated in the refuges, as there are too few of them in the country. In 2020, from March to December, 2,159 requests for refuge could not be met. I am sure we are all thinking about what life was like for each and every one of those 2,159 people. The Istanbul Convention recommends that each European country have one refuge space for every 10,000 people, and that means that Ireland requires 481 new places to be compliant. A number of things could be done to further assist women who are experiencing domestic abuse. We need to: develop accessible refuges and safe accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence, in line with the Istanbul Convention; develop and enhance more support services for victims of domestic abuse; provide free legal aid to victims of domestic abuse without a means test; and enable victims and survivors to access public housing until such a time as they can resolve their housing challenges, with no regards to a means test.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's national helpline answered 13,438 calls in 2020. The number of sexual offences recorded by the Garda was 3,214 for the first six months of 2021, a 7.5% increase on the 2020 figures. We all know that sexual assault is under-reported due to shock; shame; knowing the perpetrator; fear of the justice system; and fear of being retraumatised and re-abused in the courtroom. I have spoken in this Chamber of my experience of rape and why I chose not to proceed with pursuing justice through our legal system. We still have many questions to answer on why so many of us opt not to go through the legal process or to withdraw from that process. There are a lot of myths around sexual assault and rape that hold a lot of power in our misogynistic society and that cause serious harm to victims of such assaults. These myths are prejudicial and stereotyped and hold false beliefs about sexual assault and rape. They create a bias against the victim in society and in the court. We need to eliminate the rape myth defences in Irish courts in cases of sexual assault and rape. We have to find routes through the justice system that reduce the exposure to and impact of trauma, such as video link testimony from a safe environment with a trained counsellor or therapist present. We must provide free legal aid to all victims of sexual assault and rape by abolishing the means test required.

Prevention is the key to changing the systemic abuse of women in Ireland. An essential part of prevention is to have a robust system of data collection on violence against women and girls that is governed by the new agency recommended by the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. We also have to change minds and attitudes towards gender and equality. To effect a change in society, it is vital that new education programmes are rolled out in schools to highlight the importance of consent in sexual relations, the effect that abuse and harassment have on women and girls, and emphasise its unacceptability. We must raise our children to engage in sexual relations and relationships that are respectful, equal and healthy. In my previous life in the student movement we talked about consent, and that was a time when people were only coming around to the concept of consent in third level education. Now it is almost unfathomable to imagine a third level campus that does not lead on consent, have it as part of the curriculum and embed a consent culture on-campus. As we move down to second level and the review of the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum, that is an excellent opportunity to support children from the earliest ages to engage in relationships as they grow. That must be age-appropriate and it would involve a curriculum of education that would help counter the negative and damaging stereotypes that are still bought into and socialised by a gender-unequal society. It is crucial that this curriculum is developed and implemented in all schools, regardless of ethos.

There were 256 incidents of women who died violently between 1996 and 22 January of this year, and this number will keep increasing. We must, without delay, reach zero tolerance of violence against women.