Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Senator Martin, and thank him most sincerely for the opportunity to be a co-sponsor of this Bill. It is incredibly important that a complainant in a case of coercive control not be cross-examined by the person she is accusing. It runs contrary to the very definition of coercive control that it could be perpetuated within the applications in respect of domestic violence.

Having reflected on Senator Chambers' comments, I completely endorse and support them. Ms Noeline Blackwell has been absolutely unambiguous on the subject, and I completely endorse and support her remarks also. There has been commentary from the Judiciary, or on behalf of it, on the parameters of sentencing. The scope of the Judiciary is sometimes fettered and it is obliged to do an all-or-nothing in some instances. Concurrent with establishing a database or other mechanism, we also need to ask whether there is merit to what I am saying and, if so, address the matter as a matter of urgency. Amendments could be tagged on to other criminal justice Bills that are coming through.

In other areas, we are dealing with domestic violence leave. Women's Aid has said we should not be advocating 70% pay and that there should be full pay for women and others who apply for domestic violence leave. If a woman avails of domestic violence leave and has reduced pay, it may show up in her bank account. This could show her hand, particularly where there is coercive control. Management of money is a big indicator. In the context of this debate, I endorse the call by Women's Aid. I absolutely support it.

We need to be considering prevention and education and tackling people when they are young. The recent report on access to pornography and inappropriate matter online by children is quite horrific. What they are exposed to is quite horrific. The misogyny expressed by influencers on social media is really quite horrific. We need to tackle it in an absolute way as legislators, and we also need to have a major education programme in our schools. That is also a called by Women's Aid that I completely endorse.