Fiona O'Malley (Progressive Democrats)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me raise this issue. Yesterday, I chaired a conference on the issue of female genital mutilation, FGM, at which Ireland, in conjunction with 15 other European countries, launched a national plan. It is significant this was launched on a European-wide basis.

The national plan has three specific goals, namely, to prevent the practice of FGM in Ireland, to provide high quality appropriate health care and support for women and girls who have undergone FGM, and to end the practice of FGM. Female genital mutilation is a harmful and deeply cruel practice and is an appalling human rights abuse. It is extreme violence against women and girls and involves the cutting off of the genitals.

The rationale for the continuance of FGM varies across regions, countries and cultures. However, in every society in which it is practised, FGM is an expression of gender inequality. In such societies, women consistently have less access to power, resources and education and are more vulnerable to sexual and physical violence because of the socially constructed roles assigned to them. Control over women, their bodies and their sexuality is a key mechanism of sustaining gender inequality.

Framed in this way, FGM can be understood to be motivated by the perpetuation of social systems organised around the subordinate position of women. Ironically, and to my mind tragically, women are often central to the continuation of FGM, because the tragedy of their position is that marriage is one of the few social ways of advancement in such societies. If they fail to allow the practice of female genital cutting continue, they isolate themselves from their communities. Therefore, FGM is something mothers and grandmothers frequently require of their daughters, no matter how reluctant. They see it as the only way of achieving status within the community. The worrying factor is that FGM has always been a hidden issue and has not been debated in these societies. Mothers and grandmothers frequently see it as the only lifeline for their daughters.

Understanding the reasons many women may support FGM is essential to develop sensitive and effective intervention strategies. Research undertaken by AkiDwA this year has estimated that at least 2,500 women who have undergone FGM in their country of origin now live in Ireland. Women and girls who have undergone FGM are accessing maternity hospitals and GP clinics and attending sexual health services. Girls and young women from families for whom FGM is an expected rite of passage live in Ireland. Irish Aid and Irish development NGOs contribute financially and programmatically to the abandonment of FGM in developing countries. However, it is not just an issue for the developing world.

FGM is a complex issue and has implications for health, justice, education, immigration, equality and the development aid sections of our Government. To date, Ireland has no co-ordinated strategy or interagency working group set up to address FGM. Consequently, different Government agencies, health care professionals, communities, organisations and individuals work in isolation from one another and only provide ad hoc services.

This came out in our conference yesterday. One young woman, only 20 years of age, spoke of her own experience. She had been living in Dublin and got used to a certain general practitioner. Generally, our general practitioners are not trained to deal with this sensitive and traumatic issue and as a result she found herself unable to deal with the general practitioner in Dundalk where she now lives. She still comes to Dublin to visit her former general practitioner because the one in Dundalk could not handle the issue. This demonstrates the need to train people in the medical profession here to deal with FGM.

I mentioned earlier how it is not simply a matter for the developing world as it also affects us here in Ireland. At the aforementioned conference yesterday, one could witness just how horrific this practice is. It is a form of torture that is used to keep women subordinated and I simply cannot tolerate its continuance as a practice. Moreover, it is completely gender based.

However, one cannot consider this issue merely theoretically. At present, there is a case before the courts concerning a woman who, having lost one daughter to this barbaric practice, fears returning to her home community where her family insists she should allow her daughters to undergo this practice. She absolutely refuses to allow this to happen and, given what I witnessed at that conference yesterday, I understand completely the reason she would not wish to return to subject her daughters to such brutal torture, which would last a lifetime. This is the reason I ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to intervene perhaps in the case of Pamela Izevbekhai and, using humanitarian grounds, not to insist she be deported from Ireland, as I can imagine no parent would ever consider bringing back his or her child. I can imagine that no parent would give in to being deported when the health of his or child would be put at such risk, especially in the aforementioned case, given she already has lost one child to this practice.

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I will be taking the Adjournment on behalf of my senior colleague, Deputy Harney, who is unable to attend the Seanad this evening. I thank Senator O'Malley for the opportunity to speak on this important matter.

I also believe that female genital mutilation is a barbaric act, which constitutes an assault causing serious harm to the girls and women on whom it is performed. Female genital mutilation is a deeply rooted traditional practice which continues in countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The age at which it is performed varies from area to area. It may be performed on infants, female children and adolescents or, occasionally, on mature women. It is not only extremely painful but results in serious mutilation and may cause infection and even death. It exposes young girls and women to high health risks and seriously affects the quality of the rest of their lives.

The Department of Health and Children is working at present with Cosc, the national office for the prevention of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and other relevant agencies in the preparation of a national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The strategy will set out the general vision and objectives and actions to tackle these issues. I also understand that female genital mutilation will be among the gender-based violence issues the strategy will address.

The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, recently received a draft copy of the document, Ireland's National Plan to address Female Genital Mutilation, which was launched yesterday, and she has noted its contents. The plan was produced by a national steering committee which included a number of non-governmental organisations as well as the Health Service Executive, and was funded by the European Commission.

Senator O'Malley may wish to note that legal advice which the Minister obtained in 2004 strongly indicated that female genital mutilation is an offence under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. The advice states, inter alia, that it is likely that performing an act of female genital mutilation would comprise an intentional act which causes serious harm and would thus be an offence under section 4 of that Act. If the act of female genital mutilation was not found to have resulted in serious harm, it still would be open to the Garda to prosecute for the similar, though less serious, offence of assaulting a person causing harm provided for by section 3 of the 1997 Act. In September 2006 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNCRC, in its concluding observations on Ireland's second periodic report, urged Ireland to continue its efforts to end the practice of female genital mutilation through, inter alia, prohibiting it by law. The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, is examining the possibility of introducing specific legislation to ban female genital mutilation in the context of the UNCRC's recommendations.

The Department of Health and Children wrote to the then health boards in 2001 and again in 2004 and to the HSE in 2007 drawing their attention to the issue of female genital mutilation and requesting that personnel working with immigrant populations take opportunities to educate them about the dangers and unacceptability of female genital mutilation. The Department also wrote to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2004 about the issue. It asked that staff under the aegis of that Department, whose work brings them into contact with persons from regions where female genital mutilation is practised should be made aware of the issue and should educate and inform such communities about the illegality and unacceptability of female genital mutilation. The Department of Health and Children will, together with the HSE, examine the actions which the national action plan recommends regarding guidance for health care professionals and data collection.

I again thank Senator O'Malley and pass on the thanks of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, for raising this important issue. Female genital mutilation is a barbaric practice and the Government will take any further steps which may be necessary to promote awareness of its illegality and unacceptability in our society.