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Seanad Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 8 Dec 2009

Vol. 199 No. 4

Domestic Violence.

I welcome the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, to the House.

I, too, welcome the Minister to the House. It has been a while since we had the opportunity to engage in a formal or informal chat in this House, although we chatted many times when I was a Member of the Lower House.

Domestic violence is a serious issue. It is interesting that people associate this issue with females and that one in five women in Ireland will experience domestic violence. The Women's Aid, 16 Days of Action campaign, which is drawing to a close, has been good. It is important, therefore, this issue is brought to the fore in this and the other House, as it is every year. I commend those people in my constituency, including in Inishowen and Letterkenny, who work on behalf of women in County Donegal who experience domestic violence. I am not suggesting domestic violence relates exclusively to females but it is in the main females who are so affected. As pointed out in the campaign, one must consider that this might be happening to one's mother, sister or friend.

It is important people are listened to and are not judged. They must also be allowed to make decisions and be assisted in making those decisions and encouraged to attend their general practitioners, the Garda, solicitors or anyone from whom they might reasonably expect help. We have only recently learned of the awfulness of clerical sexual abuse. Previous to this we have had reports on various types of sexual abuse. Domestic violence is sexual violence against partners. We must find a mechanism, be it in the domestic violence or sexual abuse field, which encourages young people and adults to come forward and admit what is happening. It is too late to do so 20 or 30 years on, whether such abuse is in the home or outside it.

I was shocked to hear on Saturday that a majority of people do not report that they have been raped. I was eager to come into this House and speak about this issue. However, this morning I heard a report to the effect that many people who reported rape had engaged in binge drinking. There appears to be an attempt to link both factors and to assume that because a person drank alcohol, she had left herself open to being raped. This has as much an implication for domestic violence as it has for any other rape situation. It has been proven that most rapes occur between two people who know each other. No one knows each other better than do partners and husbands and wives.

Some of the statistics we have heard during the 16 Days of Action campaign are that 25% of all violent crimes reported involve a man assaulting his wife or partner and that physical violence is right up there in terms of the types of violence involved. Domestic violence has massive implications for society, including social — I am glad the Minister for Social and Family Affairs is present in the House this evening — in terms of obtaining housing to keep people separate from each other to ensure the abuse does not continue. There is much evidence to suggest the time when people are separated is as dangerous as any other time.

I am not sure whether the Minister's response will include answers to the types of issues raised by Women's Aid. An issue of concern to them is that the national budget for 2010 is under threat. The national freefone helpline and support services are a lifeline for people living with domestic violence. This organisation experienced cutbacks in funding in 2009 and believes that national and local domestic violence support services could be under threat of cuts of up to 18% in 2010.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre dealt with 9,487 counselling calls in 2008, 86% of which were from females. I could provide statistics that would keep us going for an hour. However, I have only five minutes in which to deal with this issue. I want to place on record that I value the work being done in regard to domestic violence. When I heard that a domestic violence support service was to be established in my constituency I thought it would not work and that people would not use it. However, it is being widely used, although this is not necessarily a reflection on society in the county. It is important that we recognise that people are only now confident to admit what is happening in their homes. For many generations, people did not speak about what went on in their homes because it was an admission of some darker deed. However, these types of darker deeds in our society are now coming into the open.

I ask that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform consider the issues being raised under the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 and their implications, according to Women's Aid, for cohabitants and their children. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response. While I know this issue is not centrally related to her Department, it touches on some areas of it. We should use every opportunity to encourage people to use all available resources to ensure this is not allowed to continue within society as an acceptable form of treatment of any woman.

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I thank Senator Keaveney for raising this important issue. Domestic violence is a problem throughout the country and it is important to talk about it at all times, but particularly during the international 16 days of action opposing violence against women.

All of us, and particularly the Government, take the problem of domestic violence very seriously. It has serious consequences for the victims, the majority of whom are women. In addition, children always suffer in those situations. Due to its hidden nature, and I was glad to hear Senator Keaveney mention that people are using services, the majority of victims are reluctant to report it, so it is a crime which can be difficult to tackle. It is recognised that State and non-governmental organisations are doing good work in addressing the problem and in meeting the needs of victims. That work is appreciated as it delivers vital services to domestic violence victims. It involves major organisations and local groups, as Senator Keaveney said. Some of the family resource centres offer facilities, support and counselling for victims of domestic abuse.

However, more work needs to be done, particularly in co-ordinating the work of the many organisations concerned. The organisations include Departments, State offices and agencies as well as non-governmental organisations at national and local level which deal with victims of domestic violence. Recognition of the need for co-ordination led to the establishment in June 2007 of Cosc, the national office for the prevention of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Cosc is an executive office within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform which is dedicated to ensuring a whole-of-Government response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence against women and men, including older people living in the community.

Cosc's main priority is the preparation of a national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The wide range of State and non-governmental organisations dealing with such violence is assisting with the development of the national strategy. Those organisations responded to the call for submissions on the strategy and participated in subsequent rounds of consultations. Work on preparation of the strategy is well advanced and the strategy is expected to be submitted to Government early in 2010. The strategy will set out a cohesive plan to further develop actions to prevent and respond to the violence concerned in coming years.

It is difficult to clarify the level of domestic violence. The hidden nature of the crime and the reluctance to report it make it difficult to obtain prevalence data. We have, however, empirical data on the prevalence of the problem in the National Study of Domestic Abuse published by the National Crime Council in 2005. According to the study 15% of women and 6% of men have experienced severely abusive behaviour from their partner at some stage or on some occasion over the course of their lifetime. The percentage is much higher if minor incidents are taken into account. The study found that 29% of women and 26% of men suffer domestic abuse at some stage in their lifetime where severe abuse and minor incidents are combined. In other words almost a third of all women and a quarter of all men experience some form of domestic violence at some stage. This underlines the seriousness of the problem and the magnitude of the task in tackling the problem.

Increasing knowledge about the problem is key to making progress on dealing with it. In 2008, Cosc carried out a survey of attitudes of the Irish public to domestic abuse and it came up with some interesting findings. One of the main outcomes is that a large majority of the Irish population exhibit high levels of awareness of the problem of domestic abuse. People perceive domestic abuse to be a common and increasing problem. They have a broad understanding of what constitutes domestic abuse and they regard it as unacceptable. I share the concerns Senator Keaveney raised regarding comments about alcohol. Alcohol is never an excuse for a perpetrator and it is certainly never a justification for a victim.

These are broadly positive findings and in terms of responding to domestic abuse the study showed that people feel responsible and are willing to intervene if they witness domestic abuse. However, if the victim is somebody outside the family circle, such as a neighbour they do not know well, people are reluctant to become involved. An understandable concern or fear of making things even worse is the main reason given for not becoming involved. The survey provides a baseline for understanding public attitudes to domestic abuse in Ireland. Cosc is using this survey to inform work being undertaken to improve the system of prevention and response to domestic violence. This includes the development of accessible information for members of the public, to assist them in understanding and being prepared to take appropriate action to counter these crimes. A practical example of such information is the details of local and national support services on Cosc's website at www.cosc.ie.

The Government is committed to tackling the problem of domestic violence. That commitment is reflected in the priority being given to the preparation of the national strategy. It is expected that the strategy, once finalised, will drive greater progress in dealing with this serious problem.

I thank the Minister for her substantial response. She put on record the difficulty for children in these situations, although it was not included in her script. In developing the strategy the Department should focus on getting people to talk, be it the neighbour or the person involved, with the idea that children are at the core of this and experience it. They are often a minor player in the issue but their attitudes are scarred for life. They can then possibly become the perpetrators in the next generation.

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