Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 July 2023
55. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Justice for a status update on the establishment of a statutory domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33966/23]
View answerI would like a specific update on the establishment of a statutory domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency. The figures on gender-based and sexual violence are horrific. The year 2022 was the worst on record.
As the Deputy will be aware, tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is an absolute priority for me and the rest of the Government. One of the key and central elements of the new zero-tolerance strategy is the establishment of the agency. I have given a commitment to have it up and running in January 2024, and we are on track for that to happen.
On 28 February, the Government approved the drafting of the Bill to provide for the establishment of the agency, and the general scheme of the Bill was published on 6 March. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice conducted its pre-legislative scrutiny hearing on 18 April, with engagement from several sectoral organisations and civil-society groups. Its report was published on 11 May and its recommendations are under consideration.
My Department is working intensively with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on the Bill. I hope to be in a position to publish it in the coming weeks, or, if not then, in early September, to ensure we have it ready for the next session and enacted by the end of the year so the new agency will be up and running in January of next year. We have secured approval for certain posts through the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, so there is work happening, in addition to that on the legislation, to ensure the positions can be put in place.
The strategy states that, in the detailed design phase of the agency setup, a key principle is to work with specialist and community-based support organisations. That has been a theme throughout the zero-tolerance planning. We are working with the NGOs, the people at the coalface, all the time. An initial high-level meeting was held with some NGOs last December to progress the co-design of the functional model, and my Department hosted facilitated workshops in February and March. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the independent facilitator’s report on the issues raised in these workshops was recently circulated to all participants and has been published. It is absolutely the case that, once the agency is established, we will continue in the vein of co-design, co-operation, collaboration and ensuring those who have been working at the coalface for many years are at the heart of the new agency, ensuring it works and functions in the way we want it to.
I welcome that it is on target and the positive development, but my cynicism, for which I beg forgiveness, is born of burned-in experience. We had the task force in 1995 or 1996 and then we had three strategies. We have had any amount of debate on the subject. In the meantime, there have been deaths, five this year alone. There were 12 last year. That was the worst figure in over a decade. I could quote more figures. This is upsetting, so we need action. We now have a third strategy and the promise of an agency. The Minister tells us it is on schedule. I hear that.
The report the Minister referred to has 21 recommendations. The National Women’s Council criticised the general scheme for its failure to include survivors or civil-society groups. It also referred to the lack of power invested in the agency to oblige Departments to act. The audit that referred to the fragmentation of services was one of three reports. This is where I am coming from in holding the Government to account.
Nobody is more devastated to see the numbers than I am, given my commitment to trying to address this issue, but we need to ensure we are not just responding but also putting in place structures to deal with this in the longer term. This is where the agency will be vital. We are going to replicate existing structures, working with the agency. We have a committee chaired by the Taoiseach, and I, as Minister, working with all my colleagues across the various Departments, will respond to and feed into the work. The agency will monitor the work done, so there will be a direct link. The work of implementing the zero-tolerance strategy, which has an initial lifespan of five years but which we can build on, as we have done with the other strategies, feeds directly into the work of the Government and is overseen by the Department of the Taoiseach. Therefore, there is a considerable amount of oversight. It is important that all the work done, be it through engaging with the NGOs or through pre-legislative scrutiny by the justice committee, be taken into account. That is what is happening now with the development of the legislation. It is absolutely a priority for me to establish the agency early next year with the support of all the organisations the Deputy mentioned and working very closely with them.
With regard to the audit of structures concerning domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, the report referred to a lack of effective oversight of the implementation of the previous national strategy, a fragmented approach, a lack of interest in attendance by some Departments and a lack of effective, costed implementation plans for the two national strategies. I am not making this up. According to Safe Ireland, the third national strategy is more ambitious than its predecessors but the measures barely scratch the surface of what is a wide-scale social problem. Ms Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, states violence against women has reached crisis levels in Ireland. After the publication of the SAVI Report, it took 21 years to produce the CSO survey. Professor Hannah McGee, lead author of the SAVI Report, states the following in respect of the CSO report:
[N]ot much, if anything, has changed for the better in 21 years. Sexual violence is an iceberg – huge and hidden. And we need a serious national dialogue to figure out how to change it.
That is the background I am coming from regarding this.
I tend to look at these things positively. I regard the opportunity to establish the agency as a really positive step in a process that I know the Minister is extremely serious about. Violence against women in this State is reaching an epidemic level. In this regard, I would go even further than the witness from IHREC who appeared before the justice committee. I was very pleased to hear the Minister say she believes she will have a draft Bill for consideration in the coming months.
That is absolutely imperative. We all must play our part in ensuring this scourge is eradicated insofar as we can do so. Funding the agency and consulting with the NGOs are particularly welcome steps to which the Minister has agreed. I have been engaging with several stakeholders in my constituency and in Dublin city. They are enthusiastic about the establishment of the agency.
I firmly believe violence against women and girls is the biggest issue preventing equality, not just in Ireland but right across the globe. It is an issue people are dealing with throughout the world. It is not fair to say nothing has happened in 20-plus years. The previous strategy resulted in significant changes in this country by way of new laws, new polices and investment. There is much more we need to do. I am looking at the current strategy, the commitment that is there across all Departments, the engagement with all stakeholders in the sector and the huge number of actions we are progressing and which I will bring to Cabinet in two weeks' time, after which I will meet with all stakeholders to go through the progress that has been made. We will all be held accountable if there is no progress on certain actions. The stakeholders will hold me and other Departments accountable, as will everybody in this House, for implementing the strategy. I absolutely assure Deputy Connolly that this is a priority and not something that will be left sitting on a shelf.
