Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Members of Seanad Éireann for affording me some time, and affording this House some time, to talk about the extensive work that we all are doing, and wish to do, to combat all forms of violence against women, including by changing the social and cultural attitudes that can often underpin such horrific crimes.

Ending sexual and gender-based violence and abuse is an obligation. We simply must do it. There is no other option and we need a zero tolerance approach. That is not to say it will not be challenging but I can assure Members it is a challenge that we are determined to meet.

From what might have been seen as the lowest level of unacceptable behaviours and right through to the most serious, we will work towards a society that does not accept any level of violence or abuse against women. One important aspect of this is counteracting the norms that facilitate the insidiousness of this behaviour. I refer, for example, to the assumption that elements of it are somehow a lesser form of abuse, the assertion that things that happen online are not really that serious or the suggestion that private suffering is not a public responsibility. Writing about these types of appalling behaviours in The Sunday Timesrecently, Louise O'Neill said, "Men's sense of entitlement to the female body is not a new problem —social media has simply given them a new tool." I want to reassure you that we recognise that counteracting these norms is a vital element in ending violence against women, and it is one of the areas we are specifically targeting.

As Members will be aware, my colleague the Minister, Deputy McEntee, published the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence last June, and implementation has well and truly begun. This is an ambitious, whole-of-government five-year programme of reform that is built on the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention, which are protection, prevention, prosecution and policy co-ordination. The national strategy is entitled Zero Tolerance. Its fundamental aim, and our north star, is to bring about changes in attitudes and systems to ensure our society has zero tolerance for any and all forms of these crimes. That determination to change is reflected throughout the document. It is why the strategy is not just about a criminal justice approach, important as that is. It is not only about how we can improve policing or the court system or change legislation, although all of those and other areas are addressed and are vitally important.It is also about involving wider society; it is about engaging with everyone to change attitudes and to combat this violence and abuse; it is about men doing better; it is about men recognising that they need to do more; it is about fathers doing better; it is about fathers recognising we have a duty in how we raise our sons; it is about politicians doing better; it is about politicians recognising that they need to change the system; and, frankly, it is about everyone doing more and doing better because it is only through a whole-of-government, whole-of-society effort that we will reach that goal of zero tolerance, ensuring a developmental impact on the attitudes of men and boys, while also empowering women and girls.

A detailed implementation plan, which will run to the end of this year, was published alongside the strategy. It assigns responsibility for the delivery of the 144 actions and provides clear timeframes for doing so. Further implementation plans will be published for each subsequent year of the strategy. I assure this House that what is achieved this year in implementing our zero tolerance strategy is only the start. Nonetheless, it is significant. The overall cost of implementing the entire strategy is estimated to be €363 million. The actions are drawn from across Departments and State agencies, again reflecting that fundamental truth that our North Star - zero tolerance - can only be achieved if we all work towards it.

Specific actions are included to establish a dedicated domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency under the remit of my Department. I have just come from a briefing with stakeholders working on the front line with victims and survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence from across the country. They are in the Department today helping us co-design this agency. We are listening to their voice and the expertise they have – the voice of the victim and of the survivor – in order that we get this right. The plan will also double the number of refuge spaces over the lifetime of the strategy.

We are also improving and increasing the supports available and putting in place new structures to ensure we, as a State, continue to deliver the systems and supports that victims and survivors deserve. This work includes making sure procedures and processes are in place to hold perpetrators to account; a victim-centred criminal justice system that supports victims from the moment they report a crime right through the court proceedings and beyond; the full range of supports and services are available to victims of these terrible crimes, regardless of where they live; and we continue to work with society to educate and raise awareness of all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and to enable everyone to question and change problematic behaviours.

The new agency will work collaboratively with NGOs and service providers to ensure the best services are in place to meet the needs of victims and survivors. It will have a specific mandate to drive the implementation of the zero tolerance strategy across government. For the first time, we will have people whose only and full-time job will be the delivery of the co-ordination of this strategy to ensure we bring that expertise and focus to tackle this complex but vital social issue. Work to draft the heads of a general scheme to establish the agency has progressed and I intend to go to Government for permission to publish that draft law by the end of the month. One of the overarching goals of the strategy is to ensure that everyone who needs a refuge space will get one. We will double the number of refuge spaces over the lifetime of the strategy, bringing it to 280.

The Tusla review of accommodation services for victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence identified priority locations where between 50 and 60 new refuge places are needed. Further analysis undertaken identified 12 locations nationwide where the delivery of 98 family refuge spaces would have the most impact, if prioritised. In the initial phase of this work, we expect to have delivered 24 places in Wexford, Dundalk and Navan by next year. There will be 98 refuge units in priority locations delivered by 2025, along with a further 19 additional and upgraded units by the end of the strategy. There were also 32 safe homes units operational at the end of 2022, with plans to expand to 55 by the end of 2023.

We have significantly underprovided emergency accommodation for victims of domestic violence and I fully acknowledge the need for a significant increase in the provision of refuge spaces and safe homes. I am committed to achieving this to ensure victims have a safe place when they need it. The work being done in this area demonstrates determination across the board to support and protect some of our most vulnerable people. However, let me clear: doubling the number of refuge places under the lifetime of this strategy is the start, not the end. It cannot be the end. Subsequent strategies will build on what we achieve between now and 2026.

As I mentioned earlier, the plan is not dominated by a focus on the criminal justice approach alone but, of course, this remains a core element for me as Minister for Justice. As part of delivering on the actions contained in this strategy, I will bring forward four significant Bills in the coming months. The Government has approved the publication of a Bill that will increase from five to ten years the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, one of the most common offences in domestic violence cases. The new legislation, which is currently before the Houses, also contains provisions to make stalking and non-fatal strangulation stand-alone offences. I note the interest and leadership of the Chair and others in this area in the past number of months. While both are crimes, this will make the law clearer and stronger. We know stalking is a serious and intrusive crime that can cause devastating psychological distress. The evidence is that when a specific stalking offence is introduced, it leads to a greater awareness of the crime and an increase in the number of crimes reported and ultimately prosecuted, so we are doing that. International research suggests that a history of non-fatal strangulation presents a sevenfold increase in the risk of death. Internationally, strangulation is the second-most common method of killing in adult female homicides. Research also highlights that non-fatal strangulation is frequently used as a tool of coercion, often accompanied by threats to kill, so we are acting on that.

The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill, which is also before the Houses, will introduce new and specific aggravated offences with enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against certain characteristics, including gender. I will also seek to enact the sex offenders Bill, which will strengthen the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community. It will allow for the electronic tagging of sex offenders and for the Garda to disclose information about previous convictions to a member or members of the public where the sex offender poses a risk of causing harm. I am also updating sexual offences legislation, including by updating the law around consent and by introducing many reforms in line with commitments in Supporting a Victim’s Journey. This includes extending anonymity provisions and legal representation to further categories of victims, as well as repealing provisions for sentences to be delivered in public.

There has been increased reporting of sexual violence over recent years and we are determined to ensure that our system supports every victim who takes the brave step to report. Indeed, over the past two years, significant strides have been made in implementing Supporting a Victim's Journey. I will not list them all but they include better training for professionals in the criminal justice system, the establishment of a course in University of Limerick to train intermediaries and the roll-out out of divisional protective services units in each Garda division. Every woman and every citizen should know that no matter where they live in Ireland, there is a divisional protective service unit in every Garda division and each of them have been fully trained. There has been the establishment of a specialist unit in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the introduction of preliminary trial hearings and the provision of extra funding for organisations supporting victims to address gaps in service provision. The work continues.

I want to reassure people in this regard. As an Oireachtas, we are going to take concrete steps, I hope, between now and the summer to make sure that strangulation is a stand-alone offence, to make sure we can double the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, and to make sure our courts can electronically tag sex offenders in this country. We are going to publish a Bill to make sure we overhaul how we deal with sexual offences and give victims representation in court so that when someone is being cross-examined, it is not someone representing the defendant, someone representing the State and nobody looking out for the interests of the victim. These are practical things we can do in these Houses and we can do them quickly to make a real difference.

In the brief time available, I want to say that we also have to do much more than this. Given the Andrew Tate scenario, if I may call it that, parents across the country are now realising where their kids are getting information from, the power of social media, the abuse on social media, the lack of proper sex education and the lack of age-appropriate information, which is causing real challenges. I believe that beginning to introduce children to concepts such as consent when they are in higher education is far too late and there are specific elements to the strategy that we need to deliver on if we are to bring about cultural change also.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call the next speaker, I offer a huge welcome to the pupils of Scoil Mhuire in Marino. I hope they enjoy their visit to Leinster House. I thank their teachers for bringing them here today.

I call Senator Ward.

Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire freisin. I welcome what the Minister has outlined. I know there was more to come in that speech but time constraints are such that we could not hear it all.

The strategy the Government has to deal with domestic and gender-based violence is tremendously important. I welcome, for example, the suggestion that there will be a dedicated agency in this regard and I welcome all of the other matters, which I will not go through again.

The difficulty for me, as justice spokesperson for Fine Gael, in standing up here is that I am a man, and I do not think I can possibly understand the vulnerability that my female counterparts feel when they walk through town at night, when they walk home alone, or whenever it might be. I hear that from friends and family members. There is a unique vulnerability that comes with being a woman, not because women are weak but because women are targeted, and there can be no doubt about that. There is an attitude out there that says that, somehow, it is okay or acceptable to attack, abuse, wolf-whistle or catcall at women in society, or worse. That is something that starts from the micro-aggressions of everything from the sexist jokes and the simple misogyny that we hear, which moves on to psychological abuse, verbal abuse and up to violence and worse. The Minister referred to a social and cultural context we have to tackle – every one of us, as an individual and as a citizen.It stems from a notion in society that women are somehow disposable. I am afraid that is something that has taken a grip over generations in Ireland. Even this week we have been talking about mother and baby homes, which was a form of violence that stemmed from a belief that women are somehow disposable. Unfortunately, it has manifested itself in a range of events, shameful histories, in Irish society.

I welcome that the Government is coming to grips with that through the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee. We often see this kind of violence in the context of a domestic situation. Through my professional experience, I have dealt with many cases involving domestic violence. It is really insidious because it does not just affect the victim of that violence, but it also affects the perpetrator, whether he - it is invariably a man - realises it or not. It affects the families. It affects children who witness it. It affects wider family, friends and social groups. It is absolutely insidious and incredibly damaging. Therefore, it is appropriate for us to take stock of it and make a concerted effort to deal with it.

The Minister made reference to violence that takes place online. He quoted The Sunday Timesregarding how social media has now given a voice. Certain social media platforms are really toxic places for that kind of speech and the opinions that come out of it. It manifests itself in many other areas. It does so online as well as in domestic circumstances, but it also happens in public on the street and in other areas at night. We heard this week about how nurses, most of them women, are being abused as they go into work in our hospitals to look after our friends and family members to care for our people. This is such a serious problem that some of them now do not want to go to work, as if we did not have enough difficulty trying to provide healthcare for all sectors of society. That is something the Garda needs to address.

Earlier this week I appeared on an RTÉ television programme with Katie Hannon at which a brave young woman in the audience, called Varsha, raised what she considered to be a racial attack. The reality is that she was talking about a group of people - herself and her friends, all of whom were women - who were attacked on the Luas by a number of teenage boys. I cannot help thinking that if they were all big men, they would not have been attacked by the teenage boys. I presume that the fact that they are women had something to do with it. The worst thing about it is that she reported it to the Garda and nothing seems to have been done about it. We must all take responsibility for dealing with gender-based and targeted violence like that.

When she was on the Luas, there were other people on the tram. Other ordinary people who were not involved in the violence clearly did not step in. These young people, who seem to think it is okay to do this, meted out their violence and their abuse against these young women. She is from Navan but is ethnically diverse from the traditional Irish person. When they meted out that abuse, it seems that nobody stepped in. If we want to put a stop to this, every one of us must take responsibility for putting a stop to it. Every one of us needs to call out the micro aggressions. Every one of us must step in when we see abuse or violence. If we feel we cannot step in, which is also legitimate, we need to call the Garda or call people who can step in and can stop it. If we do not accept responsibility and accept that we have a role to play in stopping it, it will never stop because this burden falls on all of us.

When these incidents are reported to the Garda, something must be done. I know we have had problems with 999 calls. I hope and believe those problems have been addressed. The young woman who raised this issue on Monday night reported to the Garda what had happened on a Luas tram where there are multiple CCTV cameras to capture the images - she has images herself - but it seems nothing is being done about it. If people who are the victims of domestic or gender-based violence do not have confidence that the Garda will do something about it when it is reported, they will stop reporting it and the problem will continue to exist at a sub-social level. That cannot happen.

I appreciate everything the Minister has said about the divisional units to target these specific areas and I know of them in my area also. I also appreciate what he said about refuges. For a long time Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was the only local authority without one. I know that has also been addressed. That is welcome. Key to this is an understanding by people who are the victims of violence that when they report it, they will be taken seriously and serious action will be taken.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I think this is the first time I have addressed him in his new role as Minister for Justice. I think he has done a great job since he started in that role. I wish him good luck for the next few months while he is there.

Today's topic relates to the zero tolerance of violence against women. I wish to discuss some of these data. The World Health Organization and its partners have shown that one in three women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner, and this number has remained largely unchanged since 2011. I was at a meeting of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs about two weeks ago. Among children, one in five experience physical or sexual violence.

In Ireland, 244 women have been murdered since 1996. In resolved cases, 87% of women were killed by men known to them and 13% were killed by a stranger. Current or former male intimate partners were responsible for 57% of these resolved cases.

Ireland's third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence was published on 20 June 2022. Almost one quarter, 23.6%, of perpetrators of sexual violence against women as adults were intimate partners or ex-partners. Research on the sex trade and its harms shows that prostitution is seriously detrimental to women’s sexual, reproductive and mental health and well-being.

I believe the normalised consumption of pornography by teenagers, and indeed pre-teens, is contributing to sexual violence against women. At the same time, the ubiquitous nature of pornography and the rise of porn-based online content subscription services has led to young women and girls engaging in it themselves, often to make money quickly and easily. This can be a pipeline to prostitution, which heightens the risk of experiencing sexual violence.

I also want to highlight minority groups. Traveller women are proportionately 30 times more likely than settled women to suffer domestic violence. Migrant women are more than twice as likely to suffer domestic violence as Irish women. Traveller women only make up 0.5% of the Irish population but represent 15% of all gender-based violence services.

Other forms of gender-based violence include forced marriage, trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, conflict-based rape and female genital mutilation, FGM. Regarding forced marriage, I know that in some minority groups marriages take place in this country or across the Border of children aged 13. That is wrong and must stop. I would like the Minister to look at that.

The first couple from an African nation were jailed for FGM in Ireland in early 2020, on their one-year-old girl in Dublin. The man was facing a deportation order at the time. FGM became illegal in Ireland in 2012 when the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act was passed. However, the law alone is not enough to stop this practice. In fact, there is a danger that the law will drive it further underground, meaning survivors fail to receive urgent medical or social care. We need a preventative approach with interventions aimed at challenging social norms in communities where FGM has a cultural foothold. We need a national action plan on FGM which supports the training of all.

According to a recent opinion piece in The Journal, "Violence against women is not inherent in minority ethnic cultures, nor is there any evidence that it is more prevalent". This is false. Political correctness is all very well and good when it is a harmless veneer of politeness, but when it says that we cannot acknowledge facts, when acknowledging those facts would allow us to better help vulnerable women, then it has gone too far. Maybe I am the odd one out, but I put vulnerable women’s safety above anyone’s sensitivities any day of the week. Protecting women's single-sex spaces is part of that, including women's refuges and women's prisons.

Each country that signs up to the Istanbul Convention agrees to provide adequate refuge spaces for women fleeing abuse. The convention stipulates that governments need to provide one refuge space for every 10,000 people living in their country or they can provide one refuge space for every 10,000 women living in their country, providing that other services are in place to assist women in need of help.Ireland is the only country in Europe to opt for the latter and, as the Minister outlined, there are currently only 140 available refuge spaces in the country, as opposed to the 498 spaces that are required. The situation has improved but the number of places is nothing like it should be. In 2022, Tusla noted that while 73.6% of the population are within a 30-minute drive to a refuge, there are vast regional variations and nine counties still have no refuges.

I want to give a shout out to Women's Aid, Safe Ireland, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Men's Aid Ireland.

The Minister talked about recruiting gardaí. I know we are not getting enough recruits, but the elephant in the room is integration. We are getting a lot of refugees. Many communities are angry about the number of single male refugees who may end up in their area. There is a piece of education and policing that might need to be done on the cultural differences that may be causing fear in families, girls and women in these communities. That is a piece on which the Garda can work closely with the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Having the Garda doing an educational piece on the rule of law within the land might ease the concerns in communities around the country currently.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Senator Casey. We will take three minutes each.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I too welcome the Minister to the House this afternoon. This is the first opportunity I have had to address him. I wish him well in his new brief and compliment him on the enthusiastic manner in which he has handled it to date. I wish him well in his work.

Fianna Fáil welcomes this debate on the important topic of zero tolerance for violence against women. It is imperative that the political system responds in a robust, urgent, and comprehensive way to tackle this scourge on our society. Senator Ward mentioned that it is not just the Government but that all of society needs to respond and I fully agree with that. As far as I am concerned, enough is enough. I look forward to the strategy the Minister outlined in his presentation, which covers four pillars: prevention, protection, prosecution and policy co-ordination.

With regard to prevention, unfortunately, Monaghan and Cavan are two counties among nine that do not have currently have a refuge centre. I look forward to that being addressed. I compliment Monaghan County Council, in particular Mr. Nial O'Connor, the housing officer, who has been very proactive and has had discussions with Women's Aid and the Tearmann Domestic Abuse Service, which does excellent work to help victims in Monaghan, under the stewardship of Siobhán McKenna. I welcome the fact that plans are in place to locate a much-needed refuge centre to accommodate the needs of women in both Monaghan and Cavan.

It is disappointing that in this day and age women have to think twice about the time of day or evening they go out. I have spoken to many women who might fancy going for a jog in the park or elsewhere in the evening but there is a fear factor from the moment they leave the house. They are nervous if they see a group of young males. That is a shocking way for the women of our society to be. We, as men, must take a good hard look at ourselves. The manner in which we treat women is simply not good enough. We need education in that regard. We must educate ourselves on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. It is clear that the behaviour we have, unfortunately, witnessed all too often, and how women are treated is simply not good enough. As men, we must take a good hard look at ourselves in that regard.

The Minister alluded earlier to the plan, which involves a €363 million investment. It is an ambitious plan. I welcome the fact that an all-of-government approach is required across all Departments rather than having only one Department involved. I look forward to the plan being enacted.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is welcome to the House. I will start with a point made by Senator Ward. It is very hard to stand up here as a man to talk about sexual violence against women, but on the other hand, we should take the lead on it and drive the reform process. I wish to focus on the title of the debate: "Moving Towards Zero Tolerance of Violence Against Women". The question is how quickly we can move because we must move exceptionally quickly on this matter.

I will confine my remarks to two specific areas: one is the education system and the other is the parole system. I have been working with Claire and Phoebe Lott. The Minister will be aware of the tragic and savage death of Claire's daughter, Nadine, in 2019 in Arklow, County Wicklow. I have also been working with Jason Poole in the past year following the death of his sister, Jennifer. We have been looking at the education system with the library and research service. We did a significant piece of work on the role of the education system in tackling gender violence. As part of it, we examined the role of self-defence. It is an interesting report. Without getting into the detail, the key finding is that education must be continuous from junior certificate right up to leaving certificate and start even as early as primary school. It should be a core part of the curriculum. It should not be a scheme run over six weeks that then stops and is never heard of again. The report is an interesting read and is something we should follow up.

I regret that during my life I had some interaction with Frank McCann, who did significant work in our hotel relating to the construction of a bar back in 1989 or the 1990s. Little did I know that a couple of years later he would murder his own daughter and wife. He made three savage attempts to do it and failed on two occasions but he was successful on the third attempt. He has been in the newspapers recently because he is close to release and he is talking about getting a LinkedIn page. The Minister referred earlier to sentencing. When someone is convicted of a murder, he or she is sentenced to life imprisonment. "Life" in Ireland means life. The situation relates to the parole system. When we speak directly to families, we see what they go through, including every time one of these people come up for parole, and what they are put through. The Minister said we must put the victims at the centre, which is the case, but is it right that a person who murders his wife and child can apply for parole after ten and a half years? I had started a campaign so that nobody would be released until they are 80 but I was told I was ageist and sexist and that I could not use such an approach. However, that is what we must consider.

Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I welcome the Minister. I came back from Brussels this morning. I was there yesterday to help launch an atlas on contraception for Europe. Ireland has jumped significantly, by 15%, to make it into the top four. This has happened quickly because of small measures but, in some ways, it has taken quite a while to get here because the likes of the Irish Family Planning Association has been advocating for this for some time. It does go to show what a Government can do when it puts its mind to making lives better.

I mean this with all due respect to my male colleagues who are present. Yesterday, one of the questions asked was why so few men were in the room. There were quite a lot of men in the room compared to the rooms I am usually in when I talk about gender equality issues. It is every bit as hard for a woman to stand up here, over and over again, and talk about violence against women and violence against their daughters, mothers, sisters, friends. I accept that is hard for men to stand up and speak, but we want them to stand up and speak. We want them to take action. We are asking them to come into the Chamber - every chamber and every pub and club - to speak. I assure them that we want them to be partners in this endeavour.I am speaking in difficult circumstances because over the last year one woman has died from violence every week. I just wonder what we are doing. It is great news that there is a real commitment to ensuring there are refuges in every county. In the north west, however, we have a particularly poor provision of refuges. I note that a few of those counties, including Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Roscommon and Sligo, are in my own area. I know others have been mentioned in other areas.

Women's Aid has estimated that it does not have refuge space available for two out of three of its callers. Some end up returning to unsafe homes, but the reality is that many just never leave home. In 2020, Saoirse Domestic Violence Services found that it was unable to provide refuge accommodation for 78% of the requests that it received, amounting to 369 individuals it was unable to assist. In my county, it is no wonder that it is difficult to deal with the problem given the scale of it. It is a cultural issue but it also has to be dealt with through the provision of refuge spaces. There were 2,000 calls reporting domestic abuse in Galway last year. In addition, the number of domestic disputes dramatically increased to 384. Even when there are refuges and highly dedicated gardaí available, it is still incredibly difficult. There are just not enough spaces available. We need to take a prosecution-first approach and there must be zero tolerance. I have my doubts as to whether everybody in An Garda Síochána is aware that this is the approach we need to take. I know the Minister is committed to doing that and ensuring that word gets out.

In Galway we are also very lucky that we have the Barnahus service, which I visited last year with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The Government and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, in particular, are committed to ensuring that children who are victims of sexual abuse and assault have the very best circumstances in which to deliver impact statements and witness testimony. Barnahus is second to none in that regard. When I visited the facility, the lack of link-up between Garda services across the region and referral to Barnahus was highlighted to me. I would like the Minister to follow up on that.

As many previous speakers have said, prevention is key. There is a history of violence against women and a lack of respect for women in this country. There is also a lack of tolerance when it comes to gender generally. It is true that violence impacts on all genders, and we have to recognise that, but we know from the statistics that the victims are predominantly women. The first time the Minister attended a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further Education, Research Innovation and Science, which I sit on, I spoke about consent. That was in 2020.

I note the Minister's comments on relationship and sexuality education. We are still in a situation where 90% of our schools are Catholic. I know that many of those schools are absolutely committed to providing the very best age-appropriate information on consent, sexuality and relationships. It is time to move on with the process of ensuring that from the very youngest age, people understand and learn about respect. What engagement has there been with the Minister for Education on progressing that?

Women's safety audits are an important part of the conversation. On transport and on our streets, we need to make sure that women can go everywhere men can go and that they are not given advice to wear a pair of runners when they go out so they can run away fast. We have all been told that and it has been reiterated to us as politicians.

I spoke to the Minister last week about the family courts. I recognise that the Government has made huge strides, in particular with the introduction of domestic violence leave by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. We were one of the first countries in Europe to bring that in. There is good work happening as well.

Annie Hoey (Labour)
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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.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the students and teachers from Scoil Mhuire CBS, Marino and Griffith Avenue, to the Gallery. I remind Members that we have to call the Minister at 1.37 p.m. We have six Members left so I ask them to condense their contributions to five minutes and we will get everybody in with their co-operation.

Frances Black (Independent)
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I will do my best. The Minister is welcome to the House and, like others, I want to wish him well in his new role. I congratulate him.

I am glad that we have set time aside to talk about this important issue. The position of women in Irish society has transformed in recent decades. Irish women have fought for, and won, important battles that have facilitated greater gender equality but there is an important caveat to that: women can never be truly equal when all levels of society, at home, at work and elsewhere, are subject to the risk of male violence. Our aspiration should be the creation of a truly feminist republic, and that means there must be zero tolerance of domestic violence and violence against women.

I have to give credit to the Minister and his Department, to the Minister without Portfolio, Deputy McEntee, and the Government in general for advancing a number of laws that aim to improve the position of women in society and provide them with greater protections against violence. That is fantastic and these include the sections of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 covering domestic violence leave and the sections of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022 covering non-fatal strangulation, harassment and stalking. These are crucially important laws and those involved in advancing them should be proud. I have to highlight the submission made regarding the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill by Women's Aid and the Government's proposed rate of pay for workers taking domestic violence leave at 70%. Women who are experiencing domestic violence often struggle to leave because they lack financial independence and when women leave they often experience an increase in expenses as they find new accommodation and incur costs from counselling and other medical needs. There are also safety and privacy concerns raised by a lower rate of pay. The most discreet and dignified approach is to create a typical payslip and it is wrong to reduce the income of people when their need is most acute. This needs to be revisited.

I have to return to the topic I raised in this Chamber yesterday, namely the violence experienced by healthcare workers. What we heard yesterday at the Joint Committee on Health was shocking. According to data from the Health and Safety Authority, HSE staff made 4,796 reports of physical, verbal or sexual assaults in the workplace in 2021. These are staggering figures. The same data shows that there were only 446 inspections.The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation noted in its briefing document for the health committee yesterday that this is a women's rights issue as well as a workers' rights issue given that 63% of assaults in the health services are perpetrated against nurses and midwives, professions which are 95% female. The failure to safeguard healthcare workers from violence constitutes a failure to adhere to our obligations under the Istanbul Convention, which sets out the responsibility of member states to prevent domestic violence and violence against women. Female healthcare workers are disproportionately at risk because of structural flaws in our healthcare system, including the minimal provision of security. However, they are also more at risk because of the pervasiveness of the violent sexism that generates violence against women. Real solutions must focus on both parts of the problem.

It is very disheartening that despite the huge social changes that have taken place in recent years, young women are still subject to gendered abuse. According to Women's Aid, 20% of young women between the ages of 18 and 25 have endured intimate partner violence. This is very distressing. Young people live lives that are highly mediated by digital culture. The Internet is plagued with misogynistic influencers, violent and degrading pornography and other content that spreads poisonous sexist ideas. Regulating such content is difficult. A far more realistic approach involves providing objective feminist and inclusive relationship and sexual education to all students. This education has to stress gender equality and make young people aware of the scope of intimate partner violence in society and ensure that LGBT young people are fully included.

As society changes, patterns and methods of abuse and control change too. Women become vulnerable in different ways. We need to be aware of how abusers can use commercially available spyware technology to monitor their partners' phone use or financial transactions. This is very important. In an increasingly cashless era, when more and more transactions are done online, we need to explore pathways for women to escape new forms of financial abuse. It is a difficult and emotionally taxing topic. I pay tribute to all of the people working at the coalface of the issue, whether they provide direct support and shelter to victims or work in healthcare and therapeutic support, or work in policy and advocacy to help shape feminist laws that protect the vulnerable from violence and control. I also commend all of the women who have taken back their lives from their abusers. It is so hard to do. I want to tell any person who is suffering right now that there is help out there. If they reach out, they will be listened to and believed. Everyone deserves to live a peaceful, safe and happy life.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Five Members remain to speak. With the permission of the House, if each Member takes five minutes we will get them all in and be able to call the Minister at 1.37 p.m.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister, Deputy Harris, for being with us in the Chamber to discuss this very important issue. As we all know and acknowledge, violence against women is endemic not only in Ireland but around the world. It has to be seen as a human rights issue. We have seen high-profile murders in recent years that have brought these issues front and centre. They have stopped society in its tracks. They have shocked all of us. In a way these brutal murders enabled women to speak about their fears. The deaths of women through acts of violence forced society to face the reality that so many women live through. We now need society and the political system to address these fears urgently and comprehensively, and take an honest look at how the system responds and meets the needs of women.

As legislators we have a duty to act and do everything we can to ensure we put in place the strongest possible legislative responses and proper resources. There is absolutely no doubt that action is required. According to Women's Aid, there have been 256 instances in which women have died since 1996 and in which 20 children also died. Of these women, 163 were killed in their own homes and 87% were killed by a man known to them. One in every two femicide victims is killed by a current or former male intimate partner. The numbers do not lie. The numbers are shocking but, unfortunately, not surprising. Of course the problem extends beyond the harrowing statistics of unlawful killing. Violence against women happens in many forms and, sadly, the scale is extensive. Most assaults on women, as we know, go unreported. Many women are harassed as they go about their daily lives, with most harassment going unchallenged. More women live under intimidation and control behind doors and in silence.

Senator Casey spoke about Nadine Lott. Not too long ago at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis, I joined Jennifer Poole's brother Jason on a panel discussion on this very issue. He spoke very movingly, as he has done many times, about the horrific trauma his family suffered when Jennifer's life was taken. The main reason we had this conversation was to ensure that a register of domestic abuse offenders would be established. One of the most shocking aspects of Jennifer's story is the fact that her murderer had been jailed for more than two years for attacking his former partner with a knife. If there was a domestic violence register, in the same way as there is a sexual abuser register, there is no doubt that Jennifer would be alive today. Once again, and this is my most important message for the Minister today, I call for the establishment of a domestic violence register in this country.

Violence against women is not an issue facing only us in Ireland. It is international issue. It is an issue on which we had an opportunity to speak at the Council of Europe. My male colleagues have spoken from a male perspective and I completely appreciate their views and their support. One of my colleagues in the Council of Europe, Petra Stienen, has authored a report on how men and boys can be agents of change in confronting gender-based violence. This is not a women's issue for women to solve. It is a societal issue for society to solve. Men and boys can play a very important role in combating gender-based violence by being agents of change and speaking out against all of these harmful practices, acting as role models and challenging sexism. This has to be recognised as a global human rights issue. I believe we are moving in the right direction on this issue but we still have much to do.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister, Deputy Harris, to the House in his new role as Minister for Justice. He is here to speak to us about a serious topic. It is about zero tolerance of any type of abuse of women. It is incredible to think that we need to have a strategy to say this. It should be crazy to think that we need such a strategy. It should be automatically within us that there is never violence against men or women and particularly women. We see now that so much has to be done for us as a society. It is not only in Ireland that this is the case as I know it is also the case throughout the world.

As the Minister stated, it is about a change in our attitude and behaviour. Each one of us has a role in this. Sometimes as a public representative it is about people reaching out to us and how we support them. How do we as public representatives do this? How do we, as friends, family members and work colleagues, have a space where people can reach out to us, speak to us and tell us about the experiences they are going through? It is about that first step of speaking out. How do people feel safe to do this? Sometimes this first step is made to employers and this is also very important. Perhaps it is the case that people cannot get into work. Perhaps this is the first symptom.

The majority of cases involve someone people know. It is their partners, it is in their home and it is in what should be a safe space. The strategy contains the astonishing statistic that 13% of all domestic violence applicants are parents of adult children. Sometimes we think of partnerships in this context but there is also domestic violence against parents in the home.

I acknowledge the Government funding support of €363 million. The domestic sexual and gender-based violence service agency is based in Tusla. I have some questions on how it is working because there is an interagency approach. I take it that the Department of Justice is taking the lead.However, this is within a separate Department, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. How is it working between those Departments? The Minister has mentioned a doubling of the number of refuge places for women. That is absolutely crucial. I would really like to see this being looked at in respect of towns and regional areas rather than just by county. In my area of Roscommon and east Galway, there are no refuge places, although there are some in Galway city, 40 miles from Ballinasloe. If a woman needs a safe place to stay immediately, there should be something available in reasonably sized towns as well as in our city centres. That is a real issue in regional areas because women need a place to go for the night. They may need to get out of a dangerous situation for a couple of days. Once they are out of that situation, they may be in a safer space. Tusla has been allocated €37 million. Is that funding going to assist in doubling the number of places? Is that the funding being used? Is it Tusla that is taking the lead in respect of this measure? What is being done in respect of regional areas? I really appreciate the funding announced by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to support agencies. She put a particular focus on regional areas because there are very few supports there for what is a significant part of the country. I understand the pressure on accommodation we now face.

Women's Aid was in contact with us. It provides a vital service. Its representatives talked to us about prevention and raising our children to engage in relationships. They also talked about employers and leave for these types of situations. I will again highlight that there is a 24-hour national freephone helpline for people who are listening and who need this help which can be reached at 1800 341 900.

On the Minister's dual roles in the Departments of Justice and Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, I welcome his visit to Galway where we saw the roll-out of the active consent programme from the University of Galway. This programme provides consent education, training resources, workshops, educational videos, original dramas and social media campaigns for colleges, schools and sports organisations and I really wish to highlight it. This material is on the websiteactiveconsent.ie. We need to roll this out to schools. Despite the fact that he wears two hats, I do not know if the Minister has any update on the roll-out of that programme to secondary schools.

I acknowledge the work of gardaí in my area. As public representatives, they are our very first port of call. They have been very helpful. They receive a lot of training and have been very supportive in different situations. On a matter that spans different Departments, we need to pilot alcohol and drug addiction services. That also needs to be part of this strategy because alcohol and drugs are key factors in violence in the home. To mention one last thing, I acknowledge Men Overcoming Violence, MOVE, the work it is doing.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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With the agreement of the House, Senator Boyhan will share time with Senator Clonan.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I will be brief. I do not want to repeat what others have said. I welcome the Minister. I particularly thank the advocacy groups for women. They work tirelessly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. I have had experience of them. I particularly acknowledge the great work done in Laois. In the past two weeks, I have become involved in three or four cases from that area and I know how these groups interface and interplay with our local authorities with regard to supports.

I vary somewhat from other speakers in that I have a different opinion on the calls for refuge places. I am not a great supporter for refuge buildings per se. I do not want people who are victims of domestic violence in institutions; I want them in safe homes. Note that I did not refer to safe houses and used the term "safe homes". In terms of the latter, people can be anonymous in the community because many women have come to me to say that they have opened the door of the refuge to find the person who has inflicted viciousness and anger upon them is outside. We want them in safe communities near the schools their children attend. That is an important point to make.

I note and welcome the Minister's emphasis on supporting a victim's journey because it is a terrible journey.We must remember that, when we talk about a woman who is subject to violence, in many cases, we are talking about a family and children. No child should have to see his or her mother beaten to a pulp in the home. These are not safe homes. That has to be our priority.

I will end by saying that we should support the schools because schools and teachers are sometimes the first outside the home to pick up on these things. Many mothers do not want to admit that their marriages have broken down and that the person that they sometimes love in these rather peculiar relationships perpetrates violence. That is difficult. We should also continue the ongoing training and support for An Garda Síochána. The biggest task for all of us is ending sexual and gender-based violence and abuse for everyone. I will finish on that point. I thank the Minister for his engagement with this ongoing process.

Tom Clonan (Independent)
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I will speak on an aspect of violence against women in Ireland. We have a profound and persistent problem in Ireland with violence against women and children. The area of sexual violence, the darkest area of violence against women, is one in which I have a special interest. In 2000, 23 years ago, as a serving Army officer, I published a doctoral thesis in which I set out, in very great detail, the shockingly high levels of gender-based discrimination and violence against women in our armed forces. There were shockingly high levels of sexual assault and rape of our female soldiers, sailors and air crew. In that PhD thesis, I set out clearly and explicitly the causes and patterns of this behaviour and the solutions to it. What I received was reprisal. That is how Transparency International Ireland refers to it. My family and I were subjected to a robust and sustained campaign of character assassination, threats, physical assault and threats of physical assault. Other members of my family, my sisters, were also made the targets of explicitly obscene abuse and so on. I called for an independent Government inquiry to investigate that research and a study review group was set up by the then Minister for Defence, Michael Smith, in 2001. It reported in 2003 and fully vindicated my findings.

The reason I raise this matter today is that, 20 years before the #MeToo movement, our armed forces were given explicit and comprehensive notice of a persistent and serious problem with sexual violence against women within the organisation, one of the oldest organisations in the State. The independent review group, the judge-led inquiry into the culture of the Defence Forces, has now furnished its report to Cabinet, a report which is due to be published in the coming weeks. I do not want to pre-empt the findings of that report but, based on my ongoing contact with people in the Defence Forces, it is my belief that not only has the situation in our armed forces not been dealt with, but that it has actually deteriorated and is now worse for young men and women, particularly women. In the words of Karina Molloy, who has just published a book, A Woman in Defence, our Defence Forces are a dangerous place for women. That brings us to a very serious point in the evolution of the State and this Republic. If the Defence Forces are not a safe place for 51% of the population and are a dangerous place for women, it cannot purport to protect or defend the State. It is, by definition, a failed entity and requires very considerable transformation. It is a relic of the British Army of the 1920s, a postcolonial echo of class-ridden hierarchical structures that are not evidence-based. As part of this debate, I would say that we should have zero tolerance for violence against women, including sexual violence against women. We should start with the institutions of the State. I urge both Houses to pay very close attention to the publication of the independent review group report in the coming weeks.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for his co-operation. I warmly welcome Carmel and Lorna McGreehan, the mum and sister of our colleague, Senator McGreehan, to the Public Gallery.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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It is very nice to have my mam and my sister right behind me as I speak on this really important issue today. I thank the Minister for his time. Since I came into this House, we have spoken about this issue quite a lot. We are waiting for the moment when we will come in here and say that we have got somewhere but every single week and every single day we see something in the news that brings us back down and back to a point at which women are in a place of serious vulnerability. I welcome what the Minister said about zero tolerance of violence against womenHowever, the fact is we have tolerated such violence for a long time. We are tolerating it by delays in action. We are tolerating it in the fact there are healthcare workers afraid to go to work. We are tolerating it by way of not having a transport police force, leaving women, and people in general, afraid to go on the train or the Luas. We are tolerating it by not looking after women in the Defence Forces. We are tolerating it by not providing tougher sentences for perpetrators. We are tolerating it by not legislating more quickly to deal with stalking, public harassment and strangulation.

We are talking today about setting up an agency to deal with this issue but, in fact, we tolerate violence against women by not having done that already. We are not educating and empowering our children. We have not strengthened our bail laws. We are not empowering young women by offering them a safe place in which to report crimes. Senator Ward spoke about a case in which someone went to the Garda and nothing was done. That is tolerating violence against women and it is happening on our watch. We are tolerating a system women cannot trust. We are tolerating violence by not creating a register of offenders. I acknowledge the importance of the work the Minister is doing and his commitment to it. However, if we are not looking after victims through their journey, if we are not taking measures to prevent crimes and if perpetrators are not afraid of getting caught and going to jail, I am afraid we will continue to see acts of violence against women.

This is not a new problem, situation or pandemic. Women have been violated for thousands of years. Going back to the story of Adam and Eve, it is Eve who is the evil one who corrupts poor Adam and has to be put down. Sexism comes from way back then. It is cultural and societal. It is in our policy and in our system. Sexual and gender-based violence is a different sort of crime. It goes to the very dignity and essence of a human to be violated in any sexual way. Our courts system and our system of policymaking need to consider that. When people ask for help, whether from the Garda or the courts system, they need to be cared for and minded and they need to be able to trust the system. That is my request today. We want to be zero-tolerant but, in fact, we do tolerate crime against women.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I hope Senator McGreehan's mum and sister are very proud of her, as we are, and of the work she is doing. The final speaker is Senator Currie. I thank Members for their co-operation.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister. I thank him and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for their work on this issue. Thanks are also due to people like former Minister Frances Fitzgerald who contributed so much to the women's agenda.

I have two wee girls aged eight and ten whom I have reared to be proud of their bodies and their gender. They are now at an age at which I am beginning to introduce them to the realities of the world, which makes me really sad and really angry. I must now teach them that they cannot always assume they are safe and that they have to learn behaviours to make sure they are safe. I do not want that. They are hearing things on the radio and picking up information elsewhere, particularly in the past year. In our community, for example, the killing of Maud Coffey has happened since the new year. My daughters are aware of femicide, that more men kill women than women kill men and that it is often done by people who are close to them.

This is as it always has been. There has always been a culture of entitlement and an abuse of relationships and power. However, there is an added complexity now that was not there when I was younger whereby there is new aggression in the vocal nature of the socially acceptable ways of speaking about women. It is violent and abusive and it is overt on social media. That is what we are fighting against. We talk about zero tolerance but there are people considered role models who use language that is completely unacceptable. That is why this issue has become so difficult and challenging. I welcome the third strategy on violence against women and the zero-tolerance approach, but the fact is the problem is endemic and the complexity of the challenge is huge.

An example of what we are up against can be seen in the case of a man in Ashtown who was given a four-year suspended sentence for abusing his female partner. The newspaper articles about the case describe how he committed a string of violent assaults on a weekly basis that included punching the victim, slamming her head against a wall, smothering her with a pillow, throwing her down the stairs and spitting in her face. He was controlling in every aspect of her life, cutting her off from her family and threatening to have her and her relatives abducted and killed, to the point where she wanted to commit suicide. The Minister is addressing that through the doubling of the maximum sentencing for assault causing harm. However, when people see these kinds of sentences, it does not given them confidence. That is what we are up against. We have spoken about victims' journeys and putting victims at the centre of the criminal justice system. However, the victim in this case will be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life.

I have had an increased number of requests for improved lighting in parks, green areas and other public places. People coming home from The Carpenter pub in Dublin 15, for instance, have to go through unlighted areas on their way to the estates in which they live. I cannot get those lights installed in public places, which would make people feel safer. We have a job to do in our communities.

It is positive news that the number of refuges will be doubled. However, I hear from people about the numbers who are turned away in areas like Blanchardstown. I ask that we capture the data not only on the increase in refuge places but also on the number of people who cannot be accommodated.

The Minister is doing important work around the criminal justice system. Work also needs to be done in practical ways to make women feel safer in their communities. This covers everything from transport to public lighting in parks to increasing the number of community gardaí. Those gardaí do a fantastic job but we need more of them. It is also about education and the importance of reforming the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum. That must include addressing pornography, which has been a huge disrupter in this entire area. It absolutely needs to be tackled.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Before calling the Minister to reply, I thank Members for their participation in this important debate. In the coming weeks, I will work with the Ceann Comhairle and the Members of the Oireachtas collectively to support our women Members. This debate has shown us, very eloquently and emotionally, that we have an obligation as a society to end violence against women and gender-based violence. As Cathaoirleach, I will work with all Senators to ensure female Members have our support.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senators for their contributions to what has been an excellent debate. If we thought we were where we needed to be as a society, we would not have produced a strategy that calls for a zero-tolerance approach. It is a recognition that we have a hell of a lot of work to do together. I use the word "together" intentionally. There is a role for my Department from the criminal justice point of view, which I will talk about presently, but there is also a role for every individual, which is a point that came up time and again in Members' contributions. There is a role for the Houses of the Oireachtas to consider how we can ensure that the people who commit these offences really do pay for doing so. Issues around sentencing need to be considered by both Houses.I am very much in favour of penal reform. I believe in it passionately as an education Minister. I also believe that if we are serious about zero tolerance in respect of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, there has to be an appropriate sanction that involves the prison system. These Houses, and I as Minister for Justice, need to reflect on that. We have some legislative proposals in this area and may need more in the weeks and months ahead.

I am conscious of the people who are watching this debate, which is something of which we are not always aware. Many people will have watched these debates. I ask people watching who are in dangerous situations not to feel they need to wait to reach out for help, notwithstanding what they have heard us say about how much more we need to do. If people are in immediate danger, they must call 999 or 112. There is a lot of help available. I urge them to go to the website of the Still Here campaign, stillhere.ie, where many resources are available. Do not wait. That is a message all of us would echo.

I recently met a victim and survivor of sexual abuse. She was an incredible young woman who went through the most horrific situation of sexual abuse by her father, who was recently sentenced by the courts. She came to see me and we had an interesting and informative conversation which helped me to form my own views. She said one thing to me that has stuck with me and that I want to share with the Seanad. She said she thought what was happening to her was normal. It was her normal. She said that because she wanted to impress upon me, and I want to impress upon the Senators here, the importance of making sure that no child sitting in a school today can think those things are normal if they happen. If that young woman had known that, there could have been an intervention at a much earlier stage. I do not want to get into social media wars about what is taught in schools and what is not. I am talking about keeping our kids safe. I am talking about making sure that children in schools know what is appropriate and what is not. I am talking about children knowing in an age-appropriate way about the importance of consent. We can pass all the laws we want and should, but I believe that is key. I thank that young woman because she has brought clarity to my own thinking about these matters.

Last year saw the publication of the strategy and I pay tribute to my friend and colleague the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for her leadership. It was called an ambitious strategy by almost everybody. It was co-designed so it is not a Government strategy. It was written by people who know what needs to go into this area and what we need to get to people on the front line. This year and the years to come must be about implementing the strategy. That is what I am hearing from Senators.

A lot has happened, and I gave Senators an overview of some of that, including the Garda training. Every Garda division now has a divisional protective service. There is a specialist unit in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Extra funding is available for groups working on the front line and for training professionals in the criminal justice space. However, we still need to do an awful lot more. Between now and the summer recess, we have a chance to pass a number of pieces of legislation. We need to work on this agency to get it up and running on 1 January 2024. We need to co-design it with those working on the front line with victims and survivors. We need to have for the first time a dedicated agency with a mandate for zero tolerance of these issues. We need to double the sentencing parameters for assault causing harm. We need to pass the legislation to make stalking and strangulation separate criminal offences. We need to increase the monitoring of sexual offenders, including giving our courts the power of electronic tagging. We also need to overhaul sexual offences legislation, including around the issue of supporting the victim's journey. I was struck by Senator Hoey's contribution in that regard. We need anonymity in court and representation for victims. A whole range of areas need attention. We need to examine the definition of consent. We need to do a big piece of work and I look forward to hearing the expert views of Senators in that regard.

There is also a lot to do in respect of refuge spaces. Let me be clear when I say we are doing more but we are not where we need to be. We need to do a lot more and even when we have done what the strategy requires, we will still need to do more. That is true.

Senator Boyhan was right when he said that the notion of safe homes requires attention. That is what people on the front line tell me. We will see a significant increase in safe homes again this year. We also need to challenge ourselves and ask why women and children must always leave their homes, often in the middle of the night. I am not suggesting this is easy but it is part of the strategy. We need to look this year at the constitutional and legislative issues around why the perpetrator, alleged or otherwise, cannot leave the home. We need to tackle that issue and I intend to focus on that.

There are also many issues around public safety, as was raised by my colleague Senator Ward and others. We need more gardaí on the street to ensure everybody feels safe but, in particular, women feel safe. I was again struck by Senator Hoey's contribution when she spoke about a woman walking the longer way home because she feels it is safer. We need more gardaí on the street. We will get 1,000 prospective gardaí into the Garda College in Templemore this year. Many Senators have also recognised that it is not only more gardaí we require. There are issues in respect of street-lighting and other things that make people feel safe. We have new community safety partnerships. We will move beyond the joint policing committee model and bring all stakeholders in communities around the table to ask what we need to do in our areas to make people safe.

Senator Keogan raised a number of points about the whole issue of pornography and online content-based platforms. These are serious issues. I launched a report from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre a number of years ago which talked about where children and young people are getting their information about sex and how their notions are distorted versions of reality. That is important. She also raised the issue of forced marriages. I will reflect on the female genital mutilation, FGM, action plan. I am trying to get through as many of the issues that were raised as possible.

Senator Gallagher spoke about refuge centres in Monaghan and Cavan. He praised Ms Siobhán McKenna in Monaghan County Council and the role she has played. I will follow up on those points.

A number of Senators spoke about the role of men. I am conscious that I am a man and the Minister for Justice. Senators O'Loughlin and Pauline O'Reilly summarised the situation best when they said this is not a women's issue. Violence against women is a societal problem and an issue that requires all of us to stand up. It is not an issue for one gender or an issue that allows men to recuse themselves from the debate. Men are often the perpetrators and we have to pony up and provide leadership.

A number of Senators talked about the role of the education system. I fully agree. My colleague the Minister, Deputy Foley, is undertaking work in this area. There are plans to overhaul the social, personal and health education system for the junior certificate from next September. There are also plans to do further work on the curriculum for other ages within the school system.

I praise the Barnahus model. Senator O'Reilly mentioned the excellent work it allows for in dealing with children in these situations.

The Family Courts Bill will make a difference in respect of domestic violence leave.

I have received and am considering the report on familicide. I am considering the report with the Garda. I will revert to the Seanad on that matter.

Senator Hoey asked about the Istanbul Convention. Representatives of GREVIO are here at the moment, conducting a full review of Ireland in respect of those matters. Our actions will be informed by that review.

Senator Clonan raised a specific issue that I do not in any way want to overlook. He said the report is with the Cabinet. Without being pedantic, I believe the report is with the Minister and will be brought to the Cabinet. That is my understanding. I am not privy to what is in the report. I assure the Senator that the Government will treat it with the utmost seriousness in the first instance. When we talk about zero tolerance in respect of sexual, domestic and gender-based violence, we need to start with our own institutions by making sure there is a zero-tolerance approach in every institution in the State to such violence.