Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am glad to be here on the day this Bill has been brought to Seanad Éireann. This is a really important Bill. Many people have been calling for an agency like this for a long time. I am very familiar with Safe Ireland as a member of Women's Aid Dundalk, which is affiliated under Safe Ireland. The policy direction, advice and support we get from Safe Ireland is vital for us. It is good that there will be a statutory organisation so that Women's Aid Dundalk and Drogheda Women's and Children's Refuge and organisations around the country are not on their own and the State will be behind them.

There is much urgency regarding this Bill. We know that the Minister knows this. I am really glad that she hopes to have it up and running in the new year. It is very welcome news because it is a crisis and there are crises today, yesterday and tomorrow in so many houses around the country. This agency will take on a huge role in ensuring that there is uniform support, a proper governance structure in all refuges and organisations that support people affected by gender-based and domestic violence.

I want to congratulate the organisations around the country. When the State did not take this seriously, they stood up. It was mostly local women starting organisations in their communities because they could see the problem. Then they struggled from year to year to get money from various sources and from fund-raising. It is good to think that there might be some respite in that grasping for funding to make sure that their services continue and that there will be support in place.

I am really glad that the State is now taking this seriously. Women's Aid Dundalk is the organisation I know best. It is led by a real powerhouse, Ann Larkin. The work it does day in day out is breathtaking. It has a 24-hour helpline, one-to-one support, crisis accommodation, advocacy and support, supported housing, court support and the list continues. It supports the children of victims of domestic violence as well. It has ambitious plans and if it had more funding and more capacity, it would be able to do so much more. The organisation is stretched but for those people who seek help, it does not feel like that is the case. When someone knocks on its door or rings the 24-hour helpline, they are fully supported. Every single person is the sole priority and they are treated with dignity and in a non-judgemental way. It has been a real eye-opener for me to learn from the people working in the services. It is a privilege for me to be involved in my small way as part of Women's Aid Dundalk. It does this by working with stakeholders. The people involved have worked so hard with the support of the people of north Louth and have achieved so much with so little.

If the State began to fund these organisations adequately, they could achieve so much. This Bill and the work being done across Departments is how things will change. Domestic and gender-based violence and sexual assault continue to plague communities. It leaves countless victims traumatised and silenced. We have spoken many times in this House about gender-based violence and there are so many victims across the House. Some people did not even know they were victims until they were adults. It was only then they realised that something that had happened to them was not actually okay. We have come so far as a country that we are now creating an agency, awareness and a network that will support women, children and men who have suffered domestic abuse.

Globally, almost one third of women have experienced physical or sexual violence by their intimate partner. Some 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners. In Ireland, one in three women has experienced psychological violence from a partner at some point in their lives. One in six has, since the age of 15, experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner. Last year was a deadly year for Irish women and the Minister mentioned the case of Ashling Murphy in her speech. There were 12 deaths in the State, the highest in ten years. Two more women were killed in the North and one woman in London, bringing to 15 the number of women who died violently last year. Five children also died in horrific incidents of siblicide and domestic homicide, revealing the manifolds elements of domestic violence.

Today, when we work through the Minister's strategy we think of the victims because they are the people who were let down. We also think about how to prevent further victims. This agency is badly needed. The Bill represents landmark legislation to combat the pervasive issue of domestic violence against women and children and all individuals in our society.

The Minister outlined the measures in the Bill that will provide support and protection. It will recognise the importance of prevention efforts to empower survivors. It will plan, co-ordinate and monitor the development of refuge accommodation. It will provide financial assistance for the provision of services, setting standards for funded services and monitoring adherence to them. It will co-ordinate and oversee the delivery of Government strategy and plans in relation to domestic violence and gender-based violence. It will deliver public campaigns for the purpose of raising awareness. It will compile and distribute information on services and supports available to victims and persons at risk. It will also conduct and commission research.

This is a step change in the State's policy towards domestic violence. Safe Ireland is an organisation that I would look to for advice and a line on a many of these issues because it has such a good track record and front-line experience. Safe Ireland made some observations on the Bill. It pointed out that there was no definition of "refuge and accommodation".Safe Ireland suggests that accommodation is purposed to serve to house survivors from domestic violence with a need for alternative accommodation, be it short, medium or long term. There should be a definition of what "refuge accommodation" would mean.

On policy generation, policy should be taken from Department level but the agency should also have a ground-up policy generation function and should be in constant contact with the officials in the Department of Justice in respect of upgrading and updating policy. It should be one of the core functions of the agency to make sure that policy is continually formed and victim-centred. The agency will have the front-line experience.

I will turn to multi-annual funding. There was a question relating to section 40. In its submission Safe Ireland is afraid that it might have the effect of limiting funding strictly to a year-by-year basis. Multiagency funding might work better for service providers that know they have ongoing commitments to service users, which must be planned for in advance. Having funding strictly limited on a year-to-year basis might make it difficult to recruit, hire and retain staff.

These questions, of course, can be worked through on Committee Stage but it might be helpful to hear from the Minister today on those. I congratulate her on the Bill. It is a good day for women and victims of domestic violence.