Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

We have an epidemic of domestic violence. This morning, Women's Aid reports that last year it received its highest level of domestic abuse disclosures in its 50-year history. The figures cited in the organisation’s impact report are frightening, with more than 40,000 disclosures of abuse against women and children made in 2023. That is a jump of 18% on the previous year. Reports of physical abuse increased by 74% and economic abuse increased by 87%.

Emotional and sexual abuse and the scourge of coercive control are the lived experience of far too many women. The report details the horrific violence that women experience at the hands of partners or ex-partners: attacks with weapons; sexual assaults; threats against their lives and the lives of children; persistent surveillance; and the control of household and family finances. The consequences for women and children can be catastrophic - mental health crisis, exhaustion and burnout, poverty, homelessness and even miscarriage. The awful reality of women being beaten up, sexually assaulted, physically, mentally and emotionally manipulated and coercively controlled happens behind closed doors. It happens in the place where a woman should be safest, in her home. Some 266 women have died violently in Ireland since 1996. The majority were killed in their own home and of the resolved cases, half were killed by someone they knew. Behind every statistic is a real person and a real life. Domestic violence is not that far from any of us. It can be family, friends, a neighbour or a work colleague. It could be someone close who might be so overwhelmed by fear that they cannot speak up.

The findings of the Women’s Aid report demand that the Government respond with a level of urgency, pace and ambition to match the scale of the crisis we face. The third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence must be fully resourced. The Ombudsman for Children must be granted funding to participate in the strategy. The establishment of the dedicated agency on domestic violence is welcome but it must be made fit for purpose and have the autonomy to address the crisis effectively. We need an all-of-society approach to combating domestic violence. We need positive societal change at every level.

As an immediate step, the Government must now solve the deficit in the provision of shelters.

The State has failed to meet its refuge provision obligations under the Istanbul Convention. Nine counties still have no shelters, meaning that women and children desperately seeking escape end up staying in or returning to violent and abusive homes.

Domestic abuse service providers have been underfunded for decades. Now is the time for strategy and investment to turn the tide to ensure that women and children fleeing domestic violence have access to refuge and the wraparound supports they need. Leagann tuarascáil Women’s Aid amach an méid foréigin teaghlaigh atá ann. Ní mór don Rialtas gníomhartha a thabhairt chun cinn chun aghaidh a thabhairt air seo go práinneach. Does the Taoiseach accept that the findings of the Women's Aid report highlight the need to ramp up the Government's response to domestic violence? Will the Government introduce an emergency action plan to deliver shelters in the nine counties where there is none currently?

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