Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the proposal of my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, that leave be granted to introduce the Sex Offenders (Amendment) (Coercive Control) Bill 2023. The Bill originated as a suggestion from Jason Poole. Jason and his family tragically lost their beloved sister, Jennifer, on 16 April 2021. Jennifer was the mother of two young children, and was brutally murdered and left to die by an intimate partner. Women's Aid tells us that it receives more than 30,000 contacts a year from people who are suffering from domestic or other sexual-based violence, intimidation and coercion. Women's Aid recorded 28,000 disclosures of domestic violence, including coercion, in 2022. The majority of those victims are experiencing that abuse from intimate current or former partners.

This is a very serious issue. It is a really practical suggestion to seek to amend our sex offenders legislation to require those convicted of coercive control to be registered, and for that information to be made available to the public. I hope the Minister for Justice will take on board the proposal for this legislation, and I hope the Leader will invite the Minister to the House to debate this legislation and update us on the really valuable work she and her Department are doing to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.