Vol. 443 No. 8
9 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Justice if she will make a statement on a recent case (details supplied) which involved an alleged assault by a man on his pregnant wife and where a subsequent prosecution failed because the woman refused to give evidence; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that on 27 March 1994 the person referred to by the Deputy was charged with a breach of the peace and assault. The matter was dealt with by the courts and on 11 May 1994 the person pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace and was fined. The culprit's wife refused to give evidence against her husband in relation to the assault charge and the presiding judge did not proceed with this charge.
As the courts are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions and are subject only to the Constitution and the law, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the outcome or conduct of particular court proceedings which are a matter for the presiding judge.
Will the Minister agree that the facts of this case prompt us to bite the bullet on the incidence of violence between men and women in the travelling community? Will she agree that the standards she is trying to bring into the law by way of criminalising domestic violence and taking legislative action to deal with it should be extended to the travelling community? Will she also agree that "domestic violence" should include domestic violence between spouses in the travelling community? Will she agree there has been a tendency in the past for those who work with the travelling community to gloss over the high incidence of violence between husbands and wives in the travelling community in an effort to protect their distinct identity? Will she further agree that members of ethnic groups do not have the right to beat each other and that a child in the travelling community should not die prematurely through neglect?
I agree with Deputy O'Donnell that the travelling community should not be treated any differently from members of any other community. Therefore, domestic violence among the travelling community is treated in the same way by the Garda as in any other part of the community. We have set up a woman and child unit in Harcourt Square for the specific purpose of setting out clear guidelines to gardaí throughout the country on how they should handle, deal with and bring to prosecution instances of domestic violence. The guidelines have been drawn up and issued to gardaí in all divisions. I believe the guidelines will be extremely effective. Specific gardaí have been trained in this area and there is now a cohesive and a co-ordinated approach to the manner in which members of the Garda Síochána from high to low ranks treat instances of domestic violence. I have no evidence that the Garda treat domestic violence in the travelling community any differently and the guidelines make it clear that domestic violence is domestic violence wherever it occurs.
Will the Minister agree it is not sufficient to give the same accessibility to women in the travelling community to disclose violence against them and that the State should facilitate disclosure of such violence? Will she agree that the normal refuge centres provided for women are not accessible to women in the travelling community and that a special effort needs to be made to facilitate those women by informing them there is a place they can go? They should know it is illegal for their husbands to beat them. An education process needs to be put in place and specific measures introduced to empower women in the travelling community to resist such beating, which in many cases has been accepted from one generation to the next as normal.
Certainly I accept that refuges provided for battered wives and others should be equally accessible regardless of where people come from or to which ethnic group they belong. It is something I will raise directly with the Minister for Health and I am sure he, in turn, will be delighted to raise it with the health boards, who in most cases operate such refuges. I accept Deputy O'Donnell's point that in relation to a range of services there is a need for a health education programme specifically geared for and directed towards men, women and children in the travelling community.
