Laura Harmon (Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his comments today and clarifications on a number of issues. I hope we can make sure this Bill is enacted. It will have a huge impact on our society and on those seeking the protections they desperately need. This is a cultural issue. The Bill will not solve it. As my colleague Senator Stephenson said, it is a wider issue that is ingrained in our culture. It is part of the patriarchy. Domestic violence and abuse does not just happen within heterosexual relationships. It affects the LGBTQ community as well. Of course, it affects men and women, but we know from the statistics it predominantly affects women.

Violence and abuse can be very varied. It can be verbal, physical, sexual, emotional, coercive or financial control. Sometimes the abuse can be hidden from people and the perpetrators can be very calculated. I urge everyone to support the Bill. We know that 65,000 contacts were made to the Garda last year, and many people still struggle to get the protections they need. In County Cork alone, more than 2,300 people applied for protection orders, yet only half of these were granted. The arrest rate for domestic abuse crimes was just 21% in west Cork, which is the lowest in the country. Being from Cork, I was struck by those figures. The Bill marks an important step in moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach. It will give greater discretion to the courts and prosecutors to respond proportionately to the complex realities of abuse and coercive control. Moreover, the next section will ensure the courts can have power to refuse bail and to take into account former offences. It is worth noting from the recent Women's Aid report that 44% of those who reported issues relating to this were not satisfied with the response they got from An Garda Síochána. The Bill also makes provisions for training and awareness-raising for gardaí, which is absolutely vital.

I want to read into the record some of the statistics from Women's Aid. It is great to have its CEO, Sarah Benson, in the Gallery. We know 35% of women in Ireland, or one in three, will suffer some form of physical, psychological or sexual abuse from an intimate partner. That is a shocking statistic. These are our friends and often our family members or our colleagues. We will all know somebody within that statistic. We must all know somebody who has suffered domestic violence. Women's Aid frontline services in 2024 were contacted 32,144 times. This was a 12% increase on 2023. It is great that we have these vital services providing supports. We need to ensure there is always adequate funding for these vital services, but the fact the figures are going up and up shows the worrying trend and the need for this legislation and these supports within our society. The helpline received 24,396 contacts last year, up 17% on 2023. Another statistic that struck me was that 33% of this abuse was conducted by ex-partners. Often, when a relationship has ended, the abuse and the horrors continue for those affected. Our housing strategy does not include an acknowledgment of domestic violence and how the housing crisis in this country is contributing to that. Due to the housing crisis many people are being forced to stay in living situations they are trying to escape from. It is important that be factored into the wider stream of things. I thank my colleagues in the cross-party group Senator Stephenson and Senator Cosgrove, and Senator Malcolm Noonan in particular because it was he who suggested we should reintroduce this Bill. I also thank the original signatories of the Bill, and in particular Senator Tom Conan, for initiating it in the first instance. Finally, I thank Senator Nicole Ryan for her amendment, which is going to strengthen this legislation hugely.