Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I and officials in my Department and bodies under its aegis have engaged with representatives of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) on more than 20 occasions over the time period referenced by the Deputy, both formally and informally. Meeting with representatives of NWCI arises routinely as part of engagement with key stakeholders in the areas of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) strategy, Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and legislative reform, particularly in the criminal and family law areas.

I can inform the Deputy that I met with NWCI in July 2020 and was briefed on the work and priorities of NWCI and in particular, on matters in relation to violence against women and girls, and women and leadership across the justice sector.

I attended the launch of the report of the National Observatory on Violence Against Women and Girls webinar in December 2021 and senior officials of my Department participated in these events in 2022 and 2023.

I am informed that Minister Humphreys met with NWCI during the All-island Women's Forum Webinar on 30 September 2021 and I am informed that the former Secretary General met with them in August 2019.

In June 2022 I met with NWCI to discuss their campaign 'Beyond Exploitation, Defending the human right not to be sold for sex'.

The NWCI, along with other key stakeholders, has participated in a range of meetings convened by my Department to monitor implementation of current DSGBV strategy including the establishment of Cuan, the new statutory DSGBV agency, and with Safe Ireland in relation to DSGBV issues. In addition to this there were a number of engagements with my Department in relation to hate speech consultations and the Beyond Exploitation campaign - Ireland’s civil society campaign for equality and freedom from sexual exploitation, a survivor-led and survivor-informed campaign.

In its role as the chair of the Irish National Observatory of Violence Against Women, NWCI were represented on the Sexual Violence Survey Liaison Group. This survey was chaired by the Central Statistics Office under the auspices of my Department.

In June and December of 2023 NWCI attended meetings of the Family Justice Development Forum and in March 2024 my Department participated in research being undertaken by NWCI on the issue of ‘sex for rent’.

Finally, I am informed that the CEO of the Parole Board also met the NWCI to discuss the Parole Board’s proposed victim engagement process.