Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 28 Sep 2023

Vol. 1043 No. 1

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Bill 2023: Second Stage

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Deputy James Browne)

I move:

"That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, I am pleased to introduce the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Bill 2023 to the House. This is timely and much-needed legislation and the Minister and I hope it will attract the strong support of the House.

The key purpose of the Bill is to establish a dedicated and specialist State body under the aegis of the Minister for Justice with responsibility for driving and co-ordinating the whole-of-government response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV; ensuring the delivery of excellent services and facilities to victims and persons at risk of DSGBV, including refuge accommodation for all who may require it; and delivering public awareness campaigns and carrying out research to inform policy evaluation and development. The Bill also places a statutory onus on relevant public bodies to co-operate with the agency and with each other in support of their respective DSGBV responsibilities.

The programme for Government recognises that Ireland is experiencing an epidemic of DSGBV, which is consistent with global trends. For many reasons, tackling and reducing the prevalence of DSGBV presents significant challenges. Violence of this nature encompasses not only physical attacks but also coercive control, emotional and psychological abuse, intimidation and harassment. By nature, such behaviours are insidious and often hidden and may be deeply entrenched within relationships. Moreover, such behaviours are substantially enabled by certain outdated and ignorant attitudes that, regrettably, are still held by some in our society, in particular, the kinds of attitudes that can manifest in victim blaming, denial, trying to sweep it under the carpet or simply not recognising the gravity of an incident and the harms that it may have caused.

Equally, unfortunately, in many cases, victims blame themselves or else do not seek the help they need. Often it is because they are afraid and this fear can take many forms. It may be the fear of not being believed or of being blamed and ostracised. It could involve worries for one’s own safety or the safety of loved ones or perhaps a fear of breaking up the family. There may be financial concerns or worries about losing one’s home or just the general fear of an uncertain future. Often it is a combination of such fears that stops a victim from seeking the supports that are out there and inhibits them from seeking justice or from taking steps to end their victimisation and heal their suffering.

Clearly, DSGBV is complex, deep-rooted and difficult to tackle and, sadly, the evidence shows that it is widespread in society. That is a matter of profound concern and this Government fully recognises the need for ever more concerted and co-ordinated efforts to address this serious problem. We have responded strongly with the third national strategy on DSGBV, also known as the zero tolerance strategy, and a host of related measures.

The strategy and the new implementation structures it sets out are built on a recognition that the prevalence and complexity of DSGBV and the array of State bodies with relevant responsibilities require a genuinely joined-up and committed pan-governmental response. More than that, there needs to be a dedicated central resource to co-ordinate and continuously drive this work across Government to raise and maintain public awareness of DSGBV, to carry out research in support of future policy making and to ensure that victims and survivors can avail of the best possible facilities and services, including geographically accessible refuge accommodation for all who need it.

This Bill will create a new State body to do exactly those things with a permanent statutory mandate and ring-fenced resources to deliver on that mandate.

It will be led by a chief executive to be recruited by open competition, with strategic guidance and oversight from an expert non-executive board. Working closely together and with stakeholders across Government and civil society, the agency and its board will provide the expert focus and unflinching commitment needed by domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV.

By way of some further background, the Government's decision to introduce this Bill results from a process of careful consideration and stakeholder engagement, which began with the formation of the current Government. Under the mission of building stronger and safer communities, the programme for Government committed to a range of DSGBV related action. These included an immediate audit of how responsibility for DSGBV was segmented across different Government bodies, to be followed by proposals on the necessary arrangements to ensure the issue could be dealt with in the most effective manner possible. This structural audit was undertaken in consultation with a range of relevant Government Departments, agencies and civil society organisations. including DSGBV service providers.

In July 2021, the report of the audit was brought to Government jointly by the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The report recommended that policy leadership for DSGBV be placed clearly within a dedicated office in the Department of Justice. It further recommended that responsibility for funding DSGBV services be consolidated within the Department, along with responsibility for service development plans and other measures. The report also recommended that the proposed DSGBV office should lead joint working, holistic responses and the implementation and measurement of agreed strategies. The report stressed that the office should be given sufficient authority, resources and expertise to carry out its agreed functions.

The Minister for Justice considered the options to give best effect to these recommendations, and came to the conclusion that the most effective approach would be to establish a specialist, stand-alone statutory body with responsibility for co-ordinating the Government's response to DSGBV and ensuring the delivery of excellent services to victims. A Government decision in June 2022 endorsed this approach and it forms a central plank of the third national strategy, which commits to an enhanced whole-of-government response to tackling this scourge and to supporting victims and survivors. The strategy was developed under a process of co-design with the DSGBV sector, namely, the service providers and advocacy bodies which work directly and give voice to victims, survivors and persons at risk of DSGBV. The strategy envisages a number of headline functions for the agency, which have been reflected in the Bill. The strategy also affirms the lead responsibility of the Minister for Justice for DSGBV policy development with the agency to be tasked with aligning its work with Government policy while also generating evidence and advice to assist the Minister in policy evaluation and development.

In February this year, the Government approved the general scheme of the Bill, and work immediately began on drafting the legislation. The Bill, as presented, and the vision that underpins it have been informed by detailed engagement with key stakeholders. In addition to the central role of the DSGBV sector in designing the third national strategy and the role it sets out for the agency, the Department has engaged in detail with the sector in planning for how the agency will carry out its functions in practice. In drafting the Bill, close consideration was also given to the prelegislative scrutiny report of the Joint Committee on Justice, which was itself informed by submissions from the sector in addition to the committee’s own deliberations. On behalf of the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and myself, I thank the committee for so expediently producing its thoughtful and considered report. I also thank all those organisations that took the time to make submissions to the committee. The Bill includes several changes that reflect recommendations from the committee, including: a strengthening of the provisions on stakeholder engagement; an explicit provision that the agency shall have regard to the diverse needs and circumstances of victims; and a specific provision that the board membership shall include persons with DSGBV related experience and expertise.

I will now provide an outline of what is proposed in the Bill. It comprises a total of 45 sections across five Parts. Part 1 is a standard Part which sets out the Short Title, contains provisions for commencement of the Bill and expenses incurred in its administration, and defines key words and terms used in the Bill. Part 2 of the Bill establishes the agency and sets out its statutory functions. It further provides for the appointment of a chief executive and staff; for the establishment of a non-executive board and committees of the board; and various related matters. Part 2 also contains standard transitional provisions arising from the transfer of certain responsibilities from the Child and Family Agency, otherwise known as Tusla, to the new agency. These include Tusla’s current responsibilities for funding the provision of services to DSGBV victims and for overseeing the delivery of refuge accommodation.

The statutory name of the agency will be an ghníomhaireacht um fhoréigean baile, gnéasach agus inscnebhunaithe, which translates as the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency. A non-statutory name for day-to-day use will be developed separately. The functions of the agency will include: planning, co-ordinating and monitoring the development of refuge accommodation; providing support, including financial assistance, for the provision of services, including those delivered within refuges, for victims and persons at risk of DSGBV; developing standards for the delivery of funded services; and monitoring adherence to those standards. Its functions will also include: co-ordinating and overseeing the implementation of relevant Government strategies and plans; delivering public campaigns for the purpose of raising awareness of DSGBV and reducing its occurrence in society; publishing information on the DSGBV services and supports available; and conducting or commissioning research to inform the evaluation of DSGBV policies, strategies and services; and to support the discharge of the agency's wider duties.

The Bill provides that the Minister may, by order, confer related functions on the agency. Provision is also made that the agency will collaborate and engage appropriately with relevant persons in performing its functions. The Bill provides that the agency shall act through, and its functions shall be performed by, its chief executive, who shall be appointed by the Minister on foot of a recruitment process conducted in accordance with the applicable public service legislation. The chief executive’s functions shall include managing and controlling the staff and business of the agency and providing the board, the Minister and the Accounting Officer of the Department of Justice with the information they require. The chief executive will be responsible to the Minister for the performance of his or her functions and for the implementation of the agency’s corporate plan and annual business plan. The Bill provides that the staff of the agency shall be provided by the Minister and will be civil servants of the Government. Provision is also made for secondments to the agency from other bodies. In addition, provision is made for the transfer of certain employees of the Child and Family Agency to the new agency. The Bill includes standard provisions to protect the terms and conditions of service, tenure, remuneration and superannuation of any staff transferring from Tusla. The Bill provides that the board will be appointed by the Minister from among persons with experience or expertise in DSGBV matters, in organisational governance and management, or in other matters pertinent to the functions of the agency. It will be a non-executive board with a chairperson and six ordinary members. The main functions of the board will be to provide strategic direction to the agency, to oversee and appraise the implementation of the agency’s corporate plan and annual business plan, to promote high standards of corporate governance in the agency and to provide policy advice and recommendations to the Minister. The Bill also provides that the board may establish such committees as it sees fit to assist and advise it in its work. This is an important provision as it will enable the board and the agency to access, in a structured yet flexible manner, insights and expertise from a broad range of sectoral experts, individuals of diverse backgrounds and other stakeholders.

Part 3 of the Bill provides for the preparation of a multi-annual corporate plan, an annual business plan, annual reports and accounts, other reports as may be requested by the Minister, and various related matters. It also provides for the appearance of the chief executive before the Committee of Public Accounts and other Oireachtas committees. Part 3 additionally provides that the Minister may issue general policy directives to the agency or give a specific direction to the agency on any relevant matter.

Every three years, the chief executive shall be required to prepare a multi-annual corporate plan for the agency for approval by the Minister, with or without amendment. In preparing the plan, the chief executive shall be required to consult the Minister, the board and other relevant persons and to have regard to their views. The chief executive shall also prepare and submit to the Minister an annual business plan for the agency and, again, will be required to consult the board and to have regard to its views. As I mentioned earlier, the board will have a statutory role in overseeing the implementation of both the corporate plan and the annual business plan. The agency’s annual report will include the board’s appraisal of how these plans have been implemented.

In addition to the requirement to provide an annual report to the Minister, the chief executive shall be required to prepare annual accounts for the agency and to submit these to the Comptroller and Auditor General. A further layer of accountability is provided by the provisions that require the chief executive to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts and other Oireachtas committees, where requested, to give account for the general administration of the agency.

Part 4 of the Bill sets out the terms under which the agency may provide funding to relevant service providers and sets out the accountability obligations of such providers. It obliges a funded provider to give the agency such information as it may require, including audited annual accounts, other financial information and details of the services being provided.

Part 5 of the Bill provides that a public service body, as defined in the Bill or as designated by the Minister, shall co-operate with the agency for the purpose of the performance of the agency's functions. Provision is also made that, where so requested, public service bodies shall co-operate with each other for the purposes of their respective functions where these relate to increasing awareness and understanding of DSGBV or helping victims and persons at risk. "Co-operation" is specified as including the sharing of documents and information, including statistical information. These provisions on co-operation are intended to give statutory expression to the principle that tackling DSGBV is a multidepartmental and multi-agency responsibility and that the bodies will need to co-operate with the agency and with each other to that end. Finally, provision is also made for consequential amendments to the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 and to the National Archives Act 1986.

The publication of this Bill is a strong demonstration of this Government's commitment to tackling DSGBV in all of its manifestations. Once established, this agency will be instrumental in driving forward the whole-of-government zero-tolerance approach that underpins the third national strategy. Most importantly of all, it will make a positive difference to the many lives blighted by these appalling forms of violence and abuse.

I have no doubt that every Member of the House appreciates the need for the State to step up and to better co-ordinate its response to DSGBV and its support for all those impacted by this scourge. The agency will be a key driver of this change and my Department and other stakeholders are working hard to prepare the ground so that the agency will be in a position to commence operations early in the new year. As Deputies will be aware, the establishment of this agency is keenly awaited by the DSGBV sector, by other observers including the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and relevant international monitoring bodies, and, above all, by many ordinary people who have been affected by domestic, sexual or gendered violence and abuse. As such, the Minister for Justice and I are very hopeful that the House will firmly support this Bill and expedite its passage through the Oireachtas. I look forward to all contributions in the course of our debate and would be happy to address any aspects of the legislation that Deputies wish to raise today and, indeed, subsequently. Both the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I look forward to the debate on this Bill and I am pleased to commend it to the House.

Deputy Pa Daly

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. This Bill is very welcome and we will support it moving to the next stage. The need for a stand-alone agency has been very clear for some time. The epidemic of domestic violence, which was particularly seen during the Covid pandemic, has pushed forward the need to implement the third national strategy. There must be a zero-tolerance approach, as the Minister of State has said, and it is important that there be co-design and consolidation of all of the various funding agencies. I agree with what the Minister of State said in his speech in that I also have no doubt that every Member of this House appreciates the need for the State to step up and co-ordinate the response to DSGBV.

It is worth setting out the context of the Bill. The State ratified the Istanbul Convention in March 2019 and it entered into force in July of that year. That convention created a legal framework at pan-European level to protect women against all forms of violence. It aims to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence. The Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, GREVIO, is the independent expert body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the convention. It published a report, drafted by the Government, in July of last year. This report largely covers what the Government is doing or has committed to do in the space of DSGBV. There was also a shadow report submitted by the National Observatory on Violence Against Women and Girls later in 2022. This report is worth looking at in some detail because it gives a good assessment of the current state of affairs and where the agency and Government policy will need to progress to if the State's Istanbul obligations are to be fulfilled.

Broadly speaking, there are four areas that are relevant to the Bill addressed in the report. The first and most important is refuge accommodation. Over the past number of months, I have spoken with a number of agencies on the ground, including the Tullamore domestic violence agency and Adapt in Tralee. There are very significant problems. Some are related to the current housing crisis. I note that there is a great risk of homelessness around the country where women are the victims of domestic violence. The housing assistance payment, HAP, money is not enough, which is limiting people's ability to escape the horrors of domestic violence. In the shadow report, refuge accommodation is shown to be very important. It says "Refuges must be established in all 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland and easily accessible through affordable transportation". There are nine counties where there is no refuge. In fairness, the Government is making progress towards this goal but, of course, more can and should be done.

The second relevant area is that of services for victims and those at risk of domestic and gender-based violence. The shadow report states:

The State must ensure that general support services providing legal advice, psychological counselling, financial assistance, housing [which I have mentioned], education, training and assistance in finding employment, access to health care and social services, court familiarisation [which is very important] and accompaniment services are resourced and effectively available to victims/survivors.

On legal advice, we see what has been described as a shrinking legal aid panel. It is very difficult for many women to access solid legal advice quickly because of the absence of a large number of family law solicitors. The shadow report also cites the importance of trauma-informed training for service staff. As part of a whole-of-government approach, we would see this training extended into the likes of An Garda Síochána and the Courts Service. Progress has certainly been made within An Garda Síochána and we hope that, in the ongoing negotiations on the rosters, the worry people have about the disbandment of certain specialised domestic violence units will not be realised.

The agency will also be responsible, to some extent, for carrying out research and setting overall policy direction, under the supervision of the Minister. The corporate plan, for instance, must be created by the agency under the direction of the Minister and then approved by her, once drafted, before being laid before the House.

I note that, in the Minister of State's speech, he referred to recommendations that were taken on board following prelegislative scrutiny. We welcome the Bill's inclusion of several changes reflecting those recommendations, including the strengthening of provisions on stakeholder engagement, a provision that the agency will have regard to the diverse needs and circumstances of victims and another provision that the board's membership shall include persons with DSGBV-related expertise. It is good to hear that those recommendations are being taken on board.

It was a point of contention during pre-legislative scrutiny, when many NGOs felt that there must be more independence for the agency. At the same time, the agency will be responsible for implementing measures to comply with the State’s obligations under the Istanbul Convention and accountability will therefore be very important. Will this compromise areas such as policy development or the need to collect statistics or assess the State’s own performance? For example, the wording of section 6 currently provides that the agency will:

...undertake, commission, assist or collaborate in research (including the collection, compilation and assessment of statistical data) to support the evaluation of policies, strategies and services relating to domestic, sexual or gender-based violence and .. support generally the effective performance by the Agency of its other functions under this Act or any other enactment;

It may be difficult and the fear is that it may be difficult to square this with the agency also distributing funding. The State generally can fund NGOs and other bodies which are critical of the State in turn, but when it comes to establishing the new body, we must keep that critical independent balance in mind.

The other main theme of the pre-legislative scrutiny was the need for a whole-of-government approach. The Bill currently says that the agency will act to "coordinate, oversee and provide advice and support, as appropriate, in relation to the implementation by public service bodies of ... [those] plans". There is no great obligation on other State agencies to collaborate and stronger powers may make some positive difference in this area. We can tease this point out further on Committee Stage and, as I have already said, we will be supporting this Bill through this Stage.

We have been in touch with relevant witnesses to ask for their feedback on the Bill also following the heads of the Bill being examined. One of the areas we need to see being prioritised for the agency is domestic homicide and familicide. We are all aware, I am sure, of shocking cases and the study into familicide and domestic homicides gives a figure of at least 166 persons having died in familial violence in this century up to 2018, with the State pathologist’s office telling researchers that a further 14 cases between 2014 and 2019 did not feature in the public records. There have been many instances of that, including in my own county.

Sinn Féin has long argued that family homicide review panels must be implemented with interagency collaboration taking place to ensure risk factors are identified. The study into familicide and domestic homicides is a good start and I ask the Minister of State for some sort of update in this area. The study recommended that a national database should be established for reporting on violent family deaths and for data collection as a whole. The compilation of these statistics is badly needed. We are sorely lacking in sexual violence statistics compared to, for example, the range of data available to our neighbours across the water. As I said at the time of the report’s publication, the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Bill provides an opportunity to advance policy in this area. Every second counts for families at risk of such violence and we cannot afford to see any further delays.

The data from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, initial sexual violence survey of 2022 served as a sobering reminder of the importance of the third national strategy on this violence which remains woefully underfunded and under-resourced. Some 52% of women - and, we must remind ourselves, some 28% of men - have reported experiencing sexual violence, according to that survey. If Government parties are truly committed to a zero tolerance policy - I believe they are - we need to see a step change in the implementation and funding of the strategy. The agency will hopefully be an improvement in this area but the fundamentals of implementation, funding and awareness-raising will be the same no matter what.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I start by acknowledging Emma Reidy and the staff and volunteers who run the Aoibhneas domestic abuse support service in my own area. I am sure we all acknowledge this because we know the work they do. Many of us will refer people from our own constituency offices to the local service so there is nobody under any illusions about how acutely underfunded and under-resourced they are. As Deputy Daly has pointed out, there is an epidemic of DSGBV in this State and it is only when one comes across a case that one actually sees how the services fall short of what the victims need.

I have been to visit the service many times in Aoibhneas and I have seen the work they do. I see not just how much the work is valued by the victims and the survivors, and it is, but also how much that work is valued by the whole community. It is very important that people know that they can signpost victims to a place. The victims, the survivors, their advocates and the agencies need to be central to the establishment of this new agency.

The Minister of State mentioned earlier in his remarks - the Minister, Deputy McEntee, has said this on many occasions - that there is a great deal of talk about zero tolerance. We all agree that there can be no tolerance of DSGBV but we need to ask ourselves what zero tolerance actually looks like. How do we get from where we are now to zero tolerance? How do we get there, when we read about 999 calls for victims of DSGBV not being answered, or when we see that there are counties that still do not have a refuge? How do we go from where we are to zero tolerance, which, to be frank, seems to be a very long way off? This agency must play an important role in the work towards zero tolerance. Because of this, the Government needs to get the agency right from the very start. Getting it right means ensuring that the board and the agency itself is equipped to deal with the diversity of our population.

Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence does not discriminate. It is regrettably present in every area of society. There is no group, no class or culture that is immune from the scourge of DSGBV. This new agency must be diverse and inclusive in its make-up so that it can adequately address the needs of every group in our society. It has to be responsive and dynamic. In order for it to be like that, it must be reflective of society in general.

We know that agencies like Aoibhneas do not turn people away. They make do and mend and make the meagre resources which they have stretch. The staff and the volunteers in these agencies are made up from the local community and reflect that community. I believe that is very important because when the victims approach services like Aoibhneas, they know they will be understood, their plight and situation can be related to, and appropriate support can be put in place. It is important that the views of the agencies who are working in this space are taken on board and listened to because these are the people who are on the front line.

In the speaking time remaining to me I want to briefly refer to the statistics published by the CSO recently. Half of 18- to 24-year-olds experienced sexual harassment in the last year. I very much wish that this figure was shocking but it is not. Neither is the finding that women are more than twice as likely to experience sexual harassment as men.

If the Minister of State is serious about having a zero tolerance approach - I believe he is - it has to start at the classroom level. Education has to be central to the work of this agency. In order to do that, we need to see the whole of the Government working together. Responding to the findings of this survey, the chief executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Noeline Blackwell, said it was timely that social, personal and health education curriculums in secondary schools are being updated given the level of abuse among young people. DSGBV is a whole-of-society issue and the response has to be a whole-of-society and whole-of-government response. I believe it has to start early in a person’s life. We must start in our schools because I cannot see how we will get from where we are now to where we all want to be - the zero tolerance we all want to achieve - unless there is a whole-of-government approach and unless we start with children at an early age.

Deputy Denise Mitchell

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill today. It seeks to make changes to how the State deals with DSGBV. The establishment of a stand-alone agency to deal with these issues is well overdue. I note, however, that there were concerns at pre-legislative scrutiny stage. I hope they can and will be addressed.

The transfer of powers and resources away from Tusla should allow it to operate as it was intended and allow Tusla to focus on its remit.

While this issue is back under the remit of the Department of Justice, we still need an holistic approach throughout various Departments. A dedicated statutory body for the delivery of refuge accommodation has long been needed. By the end of 2022, we had seen an increase of only 36 new places opened since prior to Covid. I note that, last summer, it was reported the Minister, Deputy McEntee, said there would be 100 new places in domestic violence accommodation by the end of this year. This must come to pass. We need to see more action in line with the commitments made in the programme for Government.

The State has previously faced heavy criticism for breaching the Istanbul Convention when it comes to refuge places. We must do much better in this area. People in need of these crisis intervention services deserve better. It is welcome that the agency will be given powers of oversight when it comes to policy implementation. We are all too used to the Government producing documents only for their contents to be ignored. Giving this agency oversight should mark a change in attitude from the Government in terms of backing up with actual resources the recommendations made in reports.

The Bill gives the agency powers to raise awareness through public campaigns. This can only help to break down the stigma. Having staff in the agency with a sole focus on campaigning can only lead to positive outcomes further down the line and should increase confidence in victims and their abilities to reach out and seek support. According to the website of Safe Ireland, one in three women has experienced psychological violence from a partner at some point in their lives. One in six women has experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner. One in four women has experienced physical or sexual abuse by a partner or non-partner since the age of 15. These are harrowing numbers and they speak to a violent society when it comes to how women are treated.

There is a 20-year gap between the first Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland, SAVI, report published in 2002 and the second, which was published last year. The Minister of State would agree this is unacceptable. Research carried out by the agency should also see reform of how we have done things to date. There need to be smaller gaps between reports of this nature. As we know, bodies can only work with the latest data they have been given. As my colleague said, we are happy to support the Bill progressing to Committee Stage. I hope the Bill goes some way towards making Ireland a safer place for women in the coming years.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

The purpose of the Bill is to establish the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency as a stand-alone statutory body under the Department of Justice with responsibility for tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The establishment of this agency is welcome and the Labour Party very much welcomes it. It is in line with the State's international treaty obligations on the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a global problem and not just an Irish problem. At European level, in an anonymised international survey, 27% of women reported they had experienced some form of gender-based violence before the age of 15, while 26% reported experiencing some form of gender-based violence after the age of 15. We know abuse is systematically under-reported. People from groups who experience a high level of discrimination and exclusion are more likely to be victims and less able to access adequate help for it. These include ethnic minorities, migrants, Travellers, individuals with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Many governmental and non-governmental organisations are worried about an increase in the number of victims presenting to them and the system's inability to help people because they do not have the resources. For example, in December 2020, Safe Ireland reported it could not meet 808 requests for refuge due to a lack of space while Men's Aid reported it missed 630 calls to its helpline in 2021, mainly due to resource constraints. The Courts Service also noted delays of 16 weeks for domestic violence applications in some District Courts. In 2022, there was an increase of 8% in domestic abuse incidents, with almost 54,000 attended to by the Garda compared with just under 50,000 instances in 2021 and just over 44,500 in 2020.

There is no doubt the establishment of a dedicated agency by the Bill is a vital component in achieving the goal of zero tolerance in Irish society of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. There are eight listed functional areas of the agency, which we broadly support. There may be ways to enhance the Bill through amendments. A key point the Labour Party wants to make is that the success of this agency will absolutely depend on the budgetary and departmental resources allocated not only to the agency itself but in a range of areas. It would take too long to address each listed proposed area of responsibility and the knock-on resources needed but there are a few key areas we would like to highlight and discuss with the Minister of State today.

The first of these is providing direct support to victims, which includes refuges. Under the Bill, the agency is tasked with planning, co-ordinating and monitoring the development of refuge accommodation and providing support, including financial assistance, to service providers for the provision of relevant services and programmes. The extent to which the agency will be successful will depend on how much in resources is made available directly to the agency and through the agency to third parties. The danger is the agency will become a convenient scapegoat for departmental failure if the Government does not make the money available.

A review in 2022 by Tusla of the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic violence estimated that Ireland provides just under 30% of the higher standard of family places necessary. The running cost of the agency is expected to be approximately €3.4 million per year. However, the agency will be responsible for allocating budgets to non-governmental bodies that provide services such as refuges, rape crisis centres and helplines to those who have experienced, or are at risk of, domestic and gender-based violence. Close to €50 million was allocated in 2023 under the respective Votes of the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for activities that will transfer to the agency. The biggest question for the Government is how much will be required to go from having 30% of places at the required standard to 100% of places. Is it another €100 million or €150 million? As sure as night follows day, without the additional resources the agency will be set up to fail.

Another area we see as being key to success is the agency's role in co-ordinating, overseeing and supporting the delivery of relevant Government strategies and plans. The success of the agency will be utterly dependent on how good the strategies are, how quickly the legal changes needed are implemented, and how much in resources is put behind the people who have to do the work. In March, the National Women's Council of Ireland, supported by and collaborating with the Department of Justice, released a very important report on the intersection of criminal justice private family law and public law childcare processes with regard to domestic and sexual violence. The National Women's Council of Ireland and the Department are to be commended on this excellent report that highlights the absolute necessity of having a victim-centred approach while, at the same time, ensuring the right to a fair legal process for those accused. At present we have a system that is incredibly hard on victims.

At the heart of the issue is that someone who is a victim can end up going through three different law processes in their case. I have heard too often women quoted as saying the court case was worse than the rape or the abuse. To quote the report, one act or a series of acts of domestic or sexual violence can cause the activation of two and sometimes three distinct legal processes. These are a criminal justice process, a private family law process and a public law childcare process. These involve the same victim or victims and the same alleged perpetrator. While there is a very real factual overlap between all of these processes, legally they work more or less in isolation despite the potential for real and beneficial liaison. Victims suffer as a result of this lack of co-ordination and collaboration between the various processes as vital information that could serve to secure just outcomes is sometimes lost in the gap between the three systems and never brought to the attention of the judge deciding on the particular issue to hand. We have a situation where a judge in one part of the process is completely unaware of what has happened or is happening in other parts of the process.

This can lead to terrible outcomes for victims and families.

As part of the national strategy there are a whole series of recommendations, some of which are excellent but, again, there are budgetary and resource implications for a whole range of Departments and not just the Department of Justice. For example, we need far better training of judges, gardaí and legal professionals. We need greater co-ordination between agencies and a far faster processing of cases. At the heart of the delays are a lack of investment and resources. We have serious underinvestment in the legal system. We have a crisis in the retention of criminal barristers that is putting court cases in this sphere at risk. As recently as May of this year, for example, a criminal trial for sexual assault had to be postponed because there was no senior barrister available to prosecute. Perhaps the biggest concern I have, however, is around the chronic lack of trained social workers and social care workers, which creates a very real impediment to effectively supporting victims of such cases.

The third point I will make concerns the structure of the Bill and the ongoing relationship with civil society organisations. I know the Minister has accepted some of the National Women's Council of Ireland's recommendations. There are a number of positive aspects to the Bill following on from those recommendations, such as the inclusion of collection management and assessment of statistical data in the functions of the agency and the fact the chairperson and members of the board will have experience and expertise in vital areas such as policy implementation, service delivery, advocacy and others with regard to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. However, the National Women's Council of Ireland and other civil society organisations have highlighted in their recommendations the importance of continuing with the co-design model of the third national strategy and the lack of clear mechanisms for collaboration with civil society organisations in the previous Bill. It is disappointing that civil society organisations are no longer mentioned in the Bill when the third national strategy acknowledged this collaboration as, “A key principle for the Department of Justice in the detailed design phase of the set up for the Agency will be to work with the specialist and community-based support organisations in a spirit of co-design to ensure that the new structure avoids the issues that limited effectiveness in the past.” It is to be hoped we can change this.

We in the Labour Party support this Bill. There may be some need to strengthen it and the agency, but at the core of the issue is that, like in so many areas, the establishment of this agency and implementation of all the policy and strategy changes recommended will be utterly futile without proper investment, not just in the agency itself, as I said, but also in the NGOs with the education and communication programmes and in the wider legal and social care system. We need to invest in the workers to deliver these services. We need to invest in gardaí, lawyers, social workers and researchers, NGO employees and everyone involved in the system to make sure this does not become another agency, as I said, that is set up to fail. The key to the success of this agency and this Bill lies not just in the Department of Justice but at the heart of the Government in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Department of Finance to see if they will put in the investment needed to make this a success. As I said, however, at this point, the Labour Party welcomes this Bill and will work to improve it as it goes through the Houses.

Deputy Emer Higgins

I begin with some alarming statistics on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I ask that, as I share these figures, the Minister of State and everyone else considers the human stories behind each number. Globally, one in three women encounter partner violence. This shocking figure equates to more than 1 billion women across the world. Furthermore, 38% of all women murdered globally are at the hands of intimate partners. Now, let us look closer to home.

In Ireland in 2022, Women’s Aid recorded an unprecedented 31,229 contacts, the highest ever in the organisation's history. A heart-wrenching Irish Mirror investigation recently revealed that the number of women and girls tragically killed in Ireland nearly doubled in just a year. Let these figures sink in. One in five young women and one in 11 young men have faced the horrors of intimate partner abuse. One in three Irish women have confronted psychological torment from someone they trust. One in four women in our communities have endured violence, be it from partners or others. A staggering four out of ten Irish adults have been victims of sexual violence, and 41% of our Irish women - our mothers, sisters, and daughters - know someone within their close circle who has suffered from intimate partner violence. These are not just numbers. These are real people; real men and real women in our communities suffering silently, often behind closed doors. We need to question why, especially when Ireland offers so much support. There is, of course, a profound psychological hurdle.

Studies indicate it can often take up to seven attempts for a survivor to finally break free and leave an abusive partner. Among the many organisations combating this issue is the Saoirse women's refuge in my constituency. It stands out to me because its mission is particularly inspiring. It is envisioning a society where domestic violence is neither normalised nor neglected. It provides sanctuaries and safe spaces where victims can find solace and strength. Our Government understands this crisis too.

Our Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has spearheaded the creation of a dedicated agency exclusively focused on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This initiative is more than welcome; it is essential. This pioneering agency promises an holistic approach overseeing the execution of strategic plans, providing financial assistance, expanding refuge accommodations and, crucially, launching awareness campaigns. By consulting experts and those who have suffered first-hand, we will address this problem comprehensively.

First, we need and intend to double the number of refuge units. Second, we will amplify support systems for victims. Additionally, our upcoming Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023 will focus on updating consent laws and introducing mechanisms to identify victims and culprits of human trafficking. Recent legislation has also been enacted, including laws targeting stalking, non-fatal strangulation and, with Coco’s Law, the unjust sharing of intimate images.

While these measures are welcome, it is imperative to highlight that no country has successfully eradicated this issue yet. That is why we need to be tougher on this. The statistics I shared are likely just the tip of the iceberg. We must transform social mindsets, channel resources and address this issue. That is why I wholeheartedly back the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Bill. Combined with our Government's zero tolerance strategy, I am hopeful we can shine a light for countless Irish people suffering in silence. By increasing penalties and dedicating resources, we are sending a really clear message: enough is enough.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan

When the Minister for Justice talks of a zero tolerance approach to domestic and gender-based violence, I cannot but agree with her. It is one of the most horrendous crimes of which a person can be a victim. I think of my home as a sanctuary that I can retreat to after a tough day at work, a place of peace and comfort. For those who are attacked, often the violence directed against them occurs in their home, their supposed safe place.

One of the dark impacts of the Covid lockdown periods was a measurable increase in the number of domestic and sexual violence incidents reported to An Garda Síochána. I said at the time that domestic and gender-based violence is a problem that has always been with us and that it permeates every socioeconomic group and every ethnicity. That remains the case.

Some say we are in an epidemic of domestic violence. I disagree. An epidemic suggests there has been a sudden increase in it, but it has always been with us. Unfortunately, it has always been there. It has never gone away. I was extremely proud to introduce the Organisation of Working Time (Domestic Violence) Bill 2019 with my party colleague and leader, Deputy McDonald, and I am proud to support any effort aimed at eradicating this scourge that, unfortunately, mainly affects women.

There is a danger when we talk of statistics that their use dilutes the reality of the suffering victims endure, but the statistics are startling. One in five women will experience violence in their own home, and 41% of Irish women know someone who has experienced such violence at the hands of a partner. Indeed, murder victims in Ireland are more likely to be innocent women in their own homes than victims of criminal disputes. We ratified the Istanbul Convention, and we are building on that. As such, I am supportive of the creation of a dedicated statutory agency. The aims of the agency are ambitious: to support and oversee the delivery of refuge, to fund services for victims and persons at risk, and to deliver campaigns and to roll out research.

If such an agency were implemented fully and guaranteed the necessary resources, it would be a strong weapon to use in the fight back against the prevalence of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV. The crux of the issue, though, is whether this agency be properly funded and supported with guaranteed multi-annual committed funding and resources. If this agency is to deliver for victims, it needs to have teeth and the power to compel other agencies to collaborate with it. Unfortunately, this power seems to be absent from the Bill. Establishing the agency should focus on approaches to DSGBV through one agency, but for it to be a success and for it to deliver, it must have the funding to do so. I urge the Minister to ensure it is provided with all necessary funding to deliver on its important mission.

One of the key responsibilities of the agency is to support and oversee the delivery of refuge accommodation for victims of domestic and gender-based violence, but faith in this Government to deliver refuge accommodation is in short supply. It is more than a year since Tusla published its review on accommodation for victims, and since then there has been no significant delivery of additional refuge spaces in the counties that currently have no available accommodation. The creation of additional refuge spaces must be a priority of the Government, but its actions to date suggest it is not such a priority. In 2022, for instance, more than 850 people in Dublin alone were denied such refuge because the accommodation spaces were all full.

We have an obligation to prevent another generation of women and girls from experiencing misogyny and gender-based violence. If properly funded, this agency has the capacity to aid in this noble effort. When I last spoke on this issue in this Chamber, I said zero tolerance must be the clarion call to all of us, particularly men and boys, as we go about our daily lives. I will continue to hold that belief and I will support any effort that embraces and aids those who have suffered the twin evil of domestic and gender-based violence.

Deputy Patrick Costello

As has been said before, the Minister was totally right to say we need zero tolerance on the issue of domestic and gender-based violence. This is a scourge that still haunts our country and still exposes many people, many women and girls, to threats, violence and death. Their very lives are at stake here. This Bill proposing to establish a new agency is incredibly important because it allows us to provide a sharp, laser-like focus in this regard. It allows us to act in a way in which this zero tolerance aim can be made a reality and be a priority.

To achieve this, we must ensure that, along with the focus, we are giving the agency the proper resources as well. We must focus on the fact there is a challenge in regard to resourcing now. Numerous Deputies will talk about how their counties and areas do not have a refuge for women or girls fleeing violence to seek safety. We need to examine the calculation of need under the auspices of the Istanbul Convention. We have signed up to this agreement. We have signed up to achieve more in the area of domestic and gender-based violence. Yet we are still failing to provide, or falling short in terms of providing, the adequate number of refuges. I know there is an argument about how the Istanbul Convention is to be made real. We can argue the semantics of the language in this regard until the cows come home, but the reality is there are women and girls at risk who are not being provided with proper refuges. I welcome this new agency and this renewed focus, therefore, as well as the renewed commitment to zero tolerance. This focus and commitment, though, must be accompanied by the provision of resources to achieve what we need to achieve.

Additionally, while this new agency is very welcome, we also need to look at the underlying legislation concerning domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Act 2018. I wish to focus on one aspect in particular. There is a reality where there is a challenge in respect of section 11 of this legislation. This section allows Tusla to seek orders on someone else's behalf. If somebody needs the safety a safety order or a barring order would provide but due to threats or intimidation is not in a position to apply for such an order, Tusla can use section 11 and apply to the courts on behalf of the person concerned. This is a very important protection to help overcome intimidation. Section 11 of the Act, though, states Tusla can provide for an "order for which the aggrieved person" may have applied for in his or her own right. The challenge in this regard comes when Tusla is seeking to protect someone aged under 18. This is because the Domestic Violence Act 2018 is structured in such a way that the language is certainly ambiguous as to whether someone aged under 18 can actually apply for a safety order or a barring order. It is then also ambiguous whether Tusla can apply for such an order as well because that organisation can only apply for an order for which the aggrieved person could have applied.

Tusla is in a position, as the corporate parent acting in loco parentis for a child in care, to apply for an order as a parent. Parents, however, can only apply for an order to protect a child where the violent person is the partner in the relationship and is the other parent. There is, then, no vehicle for a parent, whether that is the corporate parent in the form of Tusla or an actual parent, to seek an order to protect someone aged under 18 and potentially experiencing violence, abuse or coercive control within a relationship. As I said, whether this is a lacuna or an ambiguity, there have certainly been challenges for Tusla in operating section 11 and this leaves a large section of the population without the protection of this legislation.

We want to stamp out domestic and gender-based violence and we need this new agency to help us achieve this aim and to give us focus in this regard. This focus and ambition, though, can only be achieved if we match the proper resources to the agency. This focus and ambition can also only be achieved if the rest of our domestic violence legislation is robust enough. I am willing to provide the Minister of State with further information on the exact workings of section 11 and the challenges Tusla has faced in its operation. There are also other areas in which we can improve our domestic violence legislation, but this new agency is a welcome start. It is a good step and the right one to take, but we must match it with resources and improve the rest of the legislation.

Deputy Réada Cronin

I am happy to speak on this Bill and my party will be supporting its passage to Committee Stage. I wish to mention Teach Tearmainn in County Kildare, which is a refuge that offers free, confidential and invaluable support to women and children across County Kildare and parts of County Wicklow. It also offers refuge when women and their children are ready for it and they have the confidence and support to take this step.

Women bear the brunt of gender-based violence. There is no doubt about this at all, but men also experience it. These are often good men whose partners know they are safe, insofar as they are not going to get hit back. Just the day before yesterday, I got a reply to a parliamentary question concerning what services were available in north Kildare for a male victim of domestic violence. This is the second person who has come to me in this regard. I know it is mainly women affected, but what I asked was a simple question in respect of a location. Instead of a list of services, I got a long list of all the funding and State-wide projects. A line at the end of the response said my question had been passed on to Tusla for a direct answer.

This is why I worry about this new plan, as I do with all plans from this Government, to be honest. I say this because spending on services is not the same as providing services. When it comes to this new agency and to DSGBV, the physical, emotional and psychological need for these services is all too real, all too urgent and all too long overdue. This is the case for my male constituent who has been a victim of domestic violence and has nowhere to go to be safe and to recover.

The policy and detail of this Bill are clear enough. The issue, as usual, is how all or any of the provisions in this legislation will make it off the policy page and into community action and how any of it will make it from agency aspiration to actual experience. For this Government, in particular, right across the board, the gap between policy and practice is where people wait and suffer, and, in some cases, and certainly when it comes to DSGBV, die.

There is too much pain and suffering from DSGBV for the provisions of this Bill and the work of this agency to remain out there in the ether as opposed to being felt in the community and in individual lives. It is great to aspire to inter-agency co-operation but I would like to see a situation whereby agencies can be compelled to collaborate on a whole-of-government basis.

We also need the sheer practicality of more and better Garda training on these issues, which were once so marginal and are now mainstream. Gardaí need to be trained on how to answer telephone calls from victims. We still have situations such as that brought to my attention by a constituent of mine, whereby 365 abuse allegations, one for every day of the year, were not notified to the Garda. Systems do not fail; the Government fails and people fail. There must be infinitely better oversight and accountability, both within Tusla, in terms of how people work, and of Tusla to the Government and the people.

As usual, the big talk and the headlines are great. The Bill is very welcome. However, it is the detail, and the attention to the detail, that will have an impact on whether people survive, recover and live or suffer and die.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

We all welcome the establishment of an agency dealing with DSGBV. We all get the logic behind giving one agency, operating under the Department of Justice, the scope to deal with the huge scourge of domestic violence. We were not exactly shocked by recent, disastrous statistics on violence against women, in particular, but the data on the huge increase in domestic violence during the Covid period were striking. We all have an understanding of how people, even more than usual, were trapped in what should be their place of safety. Domestic violence ranges from psychological violence right through to absolutely brutal attacks. A huge number of women have died in situations where the State has failed to protect them.

While I welcome the Bill, I make a point I have made in respect of other legislation, namely, that the new agency will only work if it is provided with the resources to carry out its remit. It must have a sufficient amount of leverage and power when dealing with other Departments and agencies. All those parts need to be in place.

Deputy Cronin spoke about Teach Tearmainn. I was lucky enough to visit it as part of a delegation organised by the Ceann Comhairle and including the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Cyprus. We met the service providers and women who had availed of the service. They spoke of the wider issues we are all aware of, including the difficulty people experience in trying to avail of court services. We need to look at that aspect. The approach must be about delivery. When women are in danger, there needs to be a place to which they can go. I spoke previously in the House about Women's Aid in Dundalk, which has provided statistics on its work. From January to October 2022, it received 1,489 calls and 310 requests for accommodation, 293 of which could not be accommodated. People are forced to stay with family members or seek help from Louth County Council's homeless services or North Dundalk Family Hub. Some have to use bed and breakfast accommodation, which is an issue in the context of the current crisis in housing. Sometimes people are being put back into danger when they reach out for help. That definitely needs to be addressed across the board.

I have been told about a number of issues that have arisen in regard to court safety and protection orders where the respondent is in the North. I am seeking the exact figures in that regard. The information is not available from the Courts Service. I will speak to the Minister of State about this after the debate. That information needs to be looked at and collated. We cannot have the Border providing safety in any way, shape or form to abusers.

Deputy Martin Browne

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. We cannot leave anything to chance when it comes to supporting people who are subjected to DSGBV, tackling this serious problem and reducing its prevalence. There has been a need for some time for the creation of a statutory agency dedicated to tackling and reducing these crimes and supporting victims and survivors. The pooling of resources and dedicated expertise has my full support. However, for such an agency to be effective, it cannot work in isolation and must be able to carry out its important work with no undue obstacles to inter-agency co-operation and a whole-of-government approach where needed. We cannot leave it to chance that potential co-operation might be hampered in any instance because the communication pathway has not been specifically identified and agreed. This issue has been pointed out in submissions from NGOs, which have gone as far as to call for a clause to be included in the Bill that would grant the new agency the powers to compel other agencies to engage and work with it for the purposes of fulfilling its remit. Otherwise, we could see an unfortunate situation whereby vital actions are not taken or key information is not acquired when it should be. The same applies when engaging with the NGOs. They have a unique insight and specific knowledge of the issues and they have the trust of those who engage with them. Their input into, and continued engagement with, the agency, and vice versa, must be assured. That should go without saying.

As I have noted, nothing can be left to chance here. For this agency to be effective, we need certainty that it will not spend its time having to chase funding. We heard from both the National Women's Council of Ireland, NWCI, and the Department of Justice that there is a particular issue with victims of these types of crimes being respected and believed. The NWCI cited interviews it did with victims and the court support personnel who accompanied them. Many victims found the unfamiliar court process to be frightening and intimidating. It was noted that the workload in this area falls generally to NGOs and that the support system is straining under the volume of help that is needed. The NWCI recommended that the State provide properly resourced needs-based support teams to help in these instances. This is just one example of where we need full commitment from the Government to support the agency in its work and support the victims in the process into which they are drawn.

The postcode lottery that determines waiting times in our courts must be addressed. Serious efforts are needed to address the shortages in the courts system that result in waiting times for full hearings of barring order applications varying from four weeks to up to 12 weeks, depending on which court one is dealing with, including in my county of Tipperary.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I am sharing time with my colleague Deputy Pringle. I welcome the Bill. It contains 45 sections and five Parts and its purpose is to set up a new agency to deal with DSGBV. However, it is important to put these proposals in perspective, and a very stark perspective is to consider the context of this debate. I take exception when people complain that there is nobody in this Chamber at certain times. Deputies are very busy, attending committee meetings and so on. I never join in that commentary. However, it is significant that there is not huge interest in a debate on DSGBV. I say that most reluctantly because I will be rushing off as soon as I finish speaking. This is a really important topic with serious consequences for the physical and mental health of the women and men affected, not to mention our economy.

A report by Women's Aid, Femicide Watch 1996-2023, indicates that 261 women died violently in this country in the period from 1996 up to 23 July this year. Twelve women died violently last year, one for every month of the year, which is the highest number since 2007. Six women have died so far this year, as of 23 July.

A total of 20 children have died during incidents where women have died violently. A total 63%, which is 168 women, have been killed in their own homes, and 87% of women where the case has been resolved were killed by a man known to them, with 13% of women killed by a stranger. One in every three femicide victims is killed by a current or former male intimate partner, which is 55% of resolved cases. Women under the age of 35 make up 50% of the cases in Ireland. In almost all murder-suicide cases, which is 22 out of 23, the killer was the woman's partner. That is the background to today's debate as we talk about introducing an agency under the legislation.

I will turn now to assessing the social and economic costs, which I do reluctantly but I do it for the economists, who are predominantly male, because when they tell us about a thriving economy, they leave out quite a lot of important variables and factors. Assessing the Social and Economic Costs of DV is a July 2021 report jointly published by NUIG - my own university in Galway - and Safe Ireland. The report estimates the annual cost of domestic violence is at least €2.7 billion to the Irish economy. This does not include the cost of service provision or housing. That figure is an underestimate in my opinion. The Bill seeks to build on initiatives in place up to now, and on the suffering and deaths of women and some men. That is what we are doing here today. I would like to be very positive and welcome it, but my experience in the Dáil today has made me extremely sceptical as a woman, as a Deputy, and as a mother. Outside of housing and health, this is the topic I have raised most frequently since 2016, as have other Deputies, with the view to doing something and stopping the talking.

I worry that the agency will be a further layer of bureaucracy. I will support the legislation but I have serious concerns it will be another level of bureaucracy. I thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service for compiling the digest. As usual it is a very good paper. It tells us that the expected cost of the new agency will be €3.4 million per year. In the meantime, I have here the volume from a domestic violence organisation working on the ground in Moycullen, which used to be in Oughterard and which is struggling to continue. The Department of Justice met it earlier this year but nothing has been resolved in relation to the wonderful service it provides, yet we are going to set up a new agency that will cost €3.4 million per year with a CEO. This week we talked about Children's Health Ireland and the CEO and a board being totally unaccountable. There is no mechanism for accountability and no mechanism for publishing minutes or knowing what is happening in Children's Health Ireland. Here we are, however, setting up a new board. I will go along with it as it was one of the recommendations and a commitment in the third national strategy. I wish to put on the record that I am extremely worried it will be unaccountable and that the CEO will be reporting back to the Minister and not to the board, as I understand it. In reporting back to the Minister, it is totally under the control of the Minister and Ministers change.

Again, let me put this into perspective, with my experience of the timeline, if perhaps the Minister of State believes I am being too negative. The domestic and gender-based violence task force was set up in 1996. Eithne FitzGerald topped the poll for the Labour Party in 1992. She wrote a very good introduction to the report when it was published in 1997. Ms FitzGerald set out the blueprint back in 1997. That was the year my second child was born, who is now 26. Nothing has happened since in reducing the so-called epidemic of violence. I will come back to discuss that word "epidemic". The SAVI report was published in 2002 and it showed the prevalence of violence against men and women, but predominantly women. They followed that up a few years later with an excellent qualitative report but the Government did not listen. It noted that the women and men who came forward did so because of the care taken to do that research when they disclosed for the very first time what happened to them at an earlier stage in their lives.

We have had various strategies, with this being the third strategy. We have had an audit by Tusla around the refuge services, services which leave a lot to be desired in terms of quantity. The commitment even now is way below what is demanded or obligated by us under the Istanbul Convention. A citizens' assembly was set up with no remit to deal with it. Thanks be to God - or to the Goddess - they put in a special chapter on domestic and gender-based violence. They included it because they saw it was of the absolute and utmost importance for equality issues. There was also the audit of the structures, as I have mentioned, which showed that notwithstanding the 1996 task force setting out exactly what needed to be done, right up to 2021, 2022 and 2023, all of the structures are divided from each other none are aligned with each other. Presumably that is what this agency will tackle.

The sexual violence survey by the Central Statistics Office was finally published 20 years after the original survey by SAVI. It must be remembered that organisations on the ground had been begging and appealing to various governments to carry out an up-to-date survey. That in itself has taken an inordinate amount of time. When it was published by the CSO, we found that 52% of women and 28% of men surveyed reported having experienced sexual violence at some stage in their lifetime, with 39% of women and 12% of men having experienced sexual violence as a child. These figures are just horrific and we throw them out as if they are numbers, without analysing the consequences of this on the psychological and mental health of those affected and their families, the intergenerational effect, and the effect on the economy or for participating in a democracy. If a person is desperately trying to survive as a victim, it is impossible to participate in society. Those who manage to do it have my respect.

We have also had a study on familicide and the domestic and family violence death reviews. This was published, finally, in May 2023. I mention this because it was commissioned by the Department of Justice back in 2019. Unfortunately, Norah Gibbons, who did great work on it, died unexpectedly. I pay tribute to her. Subsequently, Maura Butler was put in place to complete it. The Government that appointed Maura Butler also failed to recognise that Maura Butler had already been commissioned to carry out the statutory review of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, which has not been carried out to date. Ms Butler has now departed the scene. I have no idea why but I am sure there are reasons. That review, however, was never carried out. The Government has a statutory obligation to carry out the review but this has not been done. Here we are in 2023 with no reasons given for that. If we are seriously committed to equality and treating women equally, then that is the most basic review that should have been done. The Government is failing in its legal duty.

On foot of the recommendations of the homicide report, three groups were to be set up: an interdepartmental group; an advisory group of NGOs, etc.; and an advisory group of the families of victims. Have these groups been established? Is there a clarification on that? Have the terms of reference been clarified?

I will conclude now and hand over to my colleague. I want to work with the Government, as I wanted to work with previous Governments, but I have absolutely no faith that there is an understanding of what it is to be the victim of sexual and gender-based violence. The word "epidemic" has been used and I took the trouble of looking up the word. We all know what it means but it has no relevance at all to sexual violence. The word is defined as a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. That is what an epidemic is. A pandemic applies to multiple regions, such as with Covid and other infectious diseases. Sexual and gender-based violence is not an epidemic. It is not a pandemic. It is not a disease. It is a crime. The term "domestic violence" upsets me because it reduces and diminishes what is happening in relation to violence, mostly by men against women but also by some women against men. When we reduce language like this we reduce our ability to act. We make it acceptable. That is what happened for a very long time with gardaí who did not wish to interfere in a family situation where the most horrific violence was being perpetrated against the woman.

Since then, the Garda has improved with its protective units, but yesterday and today, I despaired when I heard of the threat in relation to the promised action and that the protective units will suffer or will be removed, after we worked for years to get the Garda to have an understanding. Some gardaí are excellent on the ground, but they were under-resourced, undertrained and not educated in the sense that we all need to be educated in relation to the consequences of domestic and sexual-based violence.

The Ceann Comhairle was at the conference sponsored by the Council of Europe today. I took the trouble of reading its report last year, which looked at the future of the Council of Europe. It included a whole chapter on sexual and gender-based violence such is the extent of it across the world. When we clap ourselves on the back and we talk about a thriving economy and a rich country, we are doing it on the back predominantly of women and carers. They should be recognised and valued.

If the Minister of State is serious about this, and I believe he is, I am happy to work with him. However, I would like clarification on the agency and the cost of it and that it will not become merely another layer of administration. There must be a built-in review, but even that does not mean a review will happen as we have seen in relation to the legislation I mentioned where we have been waiting three years for the review. A review of this legislation is essential if we are serious about dealing with this type of violence.

Deputy Thomas Pringle

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The significant increase in the number of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, particularly since Covid-19, is staggering. This has come following a rise of misogyny, which is spreading and radicalising our young boys and men. We are facing a very serious crisis here. It feels like we, as a society, are going backwards. It seems like misogynist views and language are used more frequently and are often deemed more acceptable today than ten years ago. Sadly, I can think of multiple examples of gender-based violence and of misogynist views gaining traction in the media in the last year alone. The rise of alpha-male mega-influencers and platforms facilitating male supremacist content and misogynistic views is very worrying.

There is no doubt that this is contributing significantly to the prevalence of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in Ireland and across the globe. Disturbingly, 2022 was the deadliest year of the decade for women in Ireland. Despite the immense public outrage against gender-based violence following the murder of Ashling Murphy early last year, the death toll of women killed in violent circumstances in 2022 was the highest in ten years.

The Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Bill 2023 is long overdue and I am glad that we are finally seeing the establishment of an agency with responsibility for co-ordinating Government actions to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, including the delivery of services to victims and increasing the availability of emergency accommodation. Unfortunately, this is too little too late. This agency should have been established a decade ago, given our lack of a comprehensive State-wide domestic violence service and serious lack of data.

I was shocked to learn that the last national survey on domestic violence against women and men in Ireland was conducted in 2005. We can assume that numbers have gone up, as the number of calls to respond to domestic abuse incidents from An Garda Síochána have risen significantly and this year’s CSO statistics on sexual violence show that 52% of women experience sexual violence in their lifetime. I was also shocked to learn of the increased pressure being felt by organisations, such as Safe Ireland which could not meet 808 requests for refuge due to a lack of space over four months in 2020.

I welcome this legislation today. I gladly participated in the Joint Committee on Justice's prelegislative scrutiny, along with many fantastic organisations with expertise in the field. I was particularly glad that men's organisations were involved in the discussions, as it is extremely important that we are honest and proactive in addressing the root causes of this issue, which, most often, is men and toxic masculinity.

Violence against women by men unfortunately accounts for most domestic, sexual and gender-based violence incidents. I raised the point that the need to specifically engage boys and men should be placed on a statutory footing in this legislation to ensure efforts are taken to address the root causes of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and to implement prevention mechanisms. I was very disappointed with the Department's response that "it is not considered necessary or appropriate for the legislation to 'single out' men or boys in this manner. The Department is not aware of a comparable legislative precedent and would be concerned that such a provision could be interpreted as unduly discriminatory or stigmatising." Surely it is more stigmatising and discriminating for women who are being attacked, and the violence being perpetrated by men, unfortunately.

I strongly believe it would be wrong to establish an agency that focuses solely on incidents and victims, which are predominantly women, and that ignores root causes and the perpetrators, which are predominantly men. We cannot expect women to fix this issue. The change has to come from men.

The agency should have a particular focus on engaging men and boys in an attempt to combat the rise of misogyny, in particular, digital misogyny. There have been numerous reports that show online incel culture and digital misogyny are on the rise and the agency should be tasked with developing a programme aimed at engaging men and boys with a specific focus on how patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes are being spread via social media. Mx Daire Dempsey, education officer at Transgender Equality Network Ireland, in response to this, said the online and social media factor is very important and that for prevention work to be relevant and make an impact, it must reach young people where it is happening.

I also raised my concerns at prelegislative scrutiny regarding the reported rise in sexual assault among children nationally. There was a 50% increase in victims under the age of 16 in Donegal last summer, after which the Donegal Rape Crisis Centre was forced to reduce the age of those who can access its services to 12, following an application for funding to "The Late Late Toy Show" appeal. That, in itself, says a lot about where such bodies have to get funding to deal with some of the issues.

It is extremely concerning to hear reports that there has also been a rise of cases in which physical violence accompanies sexual violence, and a rise in cases with more than one perpetrator.

Due to the significant rise in cases of victims under the age of 16, there should also be a focus on the provision of services to victims under the age of 18 under the functions of the agency. Therefore, I will finish by asking the Minister whether the agency will have the ability to provide services and support to those under the age of 18, as well as adults, because that is vitally important. It is a failure in this legislation that they do not identify men and work on targeting the causes and the perpetrators of the violence as well.

Deputy Catherine Murphy

As most other speakers said, most survivors of gender-based violence are women and girls, but men also experience similar types of violence. It is important that we read out and talk about the definition of that, and the Oireachtas Library and Research Service Digest is very good, as others said. It involves things like sexual, physical, mental and economic harm inflicted in public or private, including threats of violence, coercion and manipulation. It is important that we would say that because people who experience it and people who perpetrate it often need to hear that. I certainly have had experiences where I have had people in my constituency office who often come in for something entirely different and I end up finding myself asking, "Are you safe at home?", or I may well have to say to them, "You know, that is domestic violence." It is important that people hear those definitions.

The last national survey on domestic violence against women and men was conducted in 2005, as Deputy Pringle said. It is a very long time ago. I agree with Deputy Connolly, when she talks about it being violence. The one place one should feel safe is in one's home but for many people, that is not the case.

According to the 2022 Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey on sexual violence and men, 40% of adults experienced sexual violence at some point in their lifetime. Obviously, the prevalence was higher among women than men - 52% as opposed to 28%.

I found that an astonishing figure and really depressing. What do we do about that? Passing legislation is one thing but it requires so much more and I think we all appreciate that.

Service providers have raised concerns about an increase in the number of victims of gender-based violence particularly in the years since the onset of Covid, their ability to meet demand and the resource constraints. Look at the Istanbul Convention and its requirements. This country chose not to base bed spaces in refuges on the number of adults in the population but on the number of women so it is 1 to 10,000. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, confirmed to the Dáil that the reason Ireland chose to provide the lesser number of refuge spaces was because community-based organisations and outreach supports are in place alongside refuges. The fact that service providers are raising those concerns highlights just how stretched they are. We are codding ourselves if we think that makes up the difference of that is needed. We are letting people down who are at very serious risk. Often, when someone feels unsafe at home they are looking for a way to get out, and not a temporary way but a permanent way out. That is because if they go, they know they cannot come back and if they come back it will be worse. Housing is a critical issue in this regard. Some refuges work very closely with local authorities in arguing for women and helping to fill up forms for the housing side but the housing crisis is a very significant part of this issue because there are very limited ways out.

The impacts on victims, survivors and children have a very negative consequence on those individuals but also society as a whole. There is an increased burden on the health system through injuries but there are also other longer term negative health outcomes, particularly for children. There is considerable very good academic research on this which the Minister of State will be more than aware of because it falls in some of the legislation we have discussed. There are adverse childhood experiences, a multiplicity of them, and that trauma can produce offending at a very early age when it should be caught at an early age. Domestic violence and homelessness all feed into that. They have profound impacts and particularly on children. Underachievement in work and education, decreased productivity in work and things such as homelessness are all impacts.

It has already been noted that the EU has costed lost economic output of gender-based violence at around €366 million in a 2019 report. I have already mentioned other impacts including health, costs in criminal justice, social welfare costs, personal costs, specialist services and physical and emotional impacts. Violence against women accounts for around 79% of those costs across the EU. It is astronomical.

The Istanbul Convention seeks to deal with things under four pillars, of which prevention is one. There was very good public service broadcasting with the series “Dr. Cassidy's Casebook”. It sketched out some of the things that need to be done around prevention and protection. I might return to that later.

Co-ordinated policies are really important. I am looking at the Bills Digest and the prelegislative scrutiny. There are matters that are part of the broader justice sector such as legal aid or the availability in courts so that people do not have to wait a very long time. Any regulatory impact assessment on this kind of legislation should sketch out the additional needs in those services rather than saying they are not in its scope. I would like to see a different way of approaching that. Any additional legislation will see new needs arising from it and they have to be provided for. Very often we produce legislation, we say all the things that are needed and then it stretches the existing services which are already inadequate. It is important we pay attention to that.

In 2020, 4,381 inquiries about accessing refuges did not result in access. In almost two thirds of these cases it was because of the lack of available or suitable space. In some cases there might be a space for the woman but not the children. In 2020 An Garda Síochána reported 43,000 reports of domestic violence-related incidents, an increase of 16% on the 2019 figures. We also know about the scandal of the unresponded calls in this area so the numbers may be considerably higher than that. So many cases are not reported or picked up on either. People are sometimes very embarrassed in case their neighbours, for example, know they are dealing with this awful experience. The Mercy Law Resource Centre offers free legal advice around social housing and social welfare law. I have found it to be really helpful to people who have been referred to it. It published a report quite recently. There is often a multiplicity of things at play. Often housing, as much as anything else, is the solution that helps people to get out and stay out.

Dr. Hayley Mulligan, the violence against women officer for the National Women’s Council of Ireland, NWCI, with specific focus on third level education, said the Government is not acting in the spirit of the convention and “failing in their duty of care to these women and children”. Dr. Mulligan, whose work focuses on the proper implementation of the Istanbul Convention, said that the requirements are the minimum standard for human rights.

We have chosen a minimum standard that is below other European countries and we are arguing that we have other services to deal with that. I completely agree that the outreach services for a domestic violence shelter are really important. They can build up confidence and give advice on protection and what is available. Those have to be properly resourced. I remember when the shelter was opened in Kildare, Teach Tearmainn. It is quite a distance from where I live and parts of my constituency. It took several years for it to fully open because while the capital was there to build it funding for the fit-out and resources for half of it took a couple of years so it was just sitting there, where there was a need. That kind of thing should not happen.

Dr. Hayley Mulligan said:

Human rights law is so different, it’s not like criminal law. It relies on the good spirit and will of the nation-state to actually implement it fully.

She said that by not doing this, the Irish Government was “not acting in the spirit of the convention.”

We should reflect on her words. Since 1996, 261 women have died violently in the Republic of Ireland according to Women's Aid. Some 63% were killed in their own homes; 55% were killed by an ex-partner and nine out of ten women knew their killer. We are all aware of it. It comes on the news way too often and we say, "not another one." It is not good enough that we say this; what are we going to do about it? As I said, Dr. Marie Cassidy's series, "Dr. Cassidy's Casebook", was very interesting in drilling down into the kinds of things involved. Very often it is a power struggle and we know that. How do we deal with those issues in a way that is constructive? In the three episodes that were aired recently, it was revealed that women were being killed by men that they knew. Something like 13% of female murder victims were killed by strangers but the vast majority were killed by people they knew. There was one person who featured on that programme, Anne Dunlea, whose sister was murdered. She said that if you have any doubt about your own partner, a loved one or a loved one's partner, speak out and look for help. Do not take any chances. That is what that family did and she talked about that being a terrible regret. However, if someone speaks out, the services have to be there. There has to be a way of intervening where there is a serious risk. We hear about services being stretched and we can see that the incidence escalated post Covid. We have to pay real heed where services are seeing first-hand that they are not coping. If people speak out, not only do they have to be heard but there has to be some action. That is part of how we will keep people safe who are at risk.

Deputy Joan Collins

I am delighted to be speaking on the Bill. I welcome its introduction to create a DSGBV agency. There is widespread support for this move. It is a positive step forward in providing services for the victims of this violence. Ireland has no real infrastructure to deliver co-ordinated DSGBV services, and what services do exist are grossly under-resourced and underfunded. The point has been made continuously in this Chamber and by Deputies today that the Istanbul Convention states clearly that we need 476 family places in refuges to cater for families. Currently Tusla only has 141 family places and plans to increase them to 280 in the next year or two. It is really not good enough. We need at least 400 to 476 family placements in place over the next two years during this third national strategy.

The State owes a deep debt to women in this country not just for historical institutional abuse but also for its failure to provide the protections and services needed for women facing violence. It is time to make this country safer for women and other victims of DSGBV. We have the institutional support now and we seem to have the political will from the Government. This is a chance that we cannot let pass us by, a chance to get this right. There is wide recognition that this is a positive step forward but there are concerns that the Bill as it stands does not give the agency the power, independence or flexibility to fix the problems we know exist in our DSGBV infrastructure and services. The agency needs this to identify what we do wrong and what we do right, and to provide, plan and grow policy and services around this. There are questions of the structure of the agency. Implementation and management must be ensured by strong oversight and co-ordination at central government level. This is an agency that will operate with a cross-section of agencies, Departments and Ministers. It needs central oversight and co-ordination to do this effectively. This is recognised in the Government's third national strategy and needs to be implemented. There is also a worry that the agency could become the ultimate destination for issues that other Departments find difficult to deal with themselves. This cannot be a last resort for problems of other Departments. It needs the power to compel proper and robust cross-Department co-ordination and engagement.

We have heard concerns about balance in the make-up of the board from front-line and sectoral groups, and during prelegislative scrutiny at the committee. The board is heavily stacked towards administrative power. We need strong administrative experience to ensure the agency's success, but we also need front-line and sectoral experience to make sure this agency is doing what it needs to do in terms of policy and services. There is an issue with who has the power to staff this agency. It has been raised by several groups that the CEO would have limited power over staffing and therefore limited power over how the agency runs. There cannot be a cut and paste of Tusla staff and services into this agency. This agency is being created to fix the problems in our existing provision of services and any move to staff this solely with Tusla transfers runs a large risk of repeating the original problems that made this agency necessary. Tusla is a child-centred agency. The new agency needs to centre victims of DSGBV. The Tusla model is not the correct structure for a truly national integrated and effective agency. If the agency and its CEO do not have control over staffing and recruitment, we will see the original problems in the provision of services repeated which this agency has been set up to solve.

I recognise that violence against women and other victims of DSGBV, including men, does not happen in a vacuum. The cost-of-living and housing crises have made it far more difficult for women escaping domestic violence. We need to ensure not only that the agency is properly funded and resourced but also that the State starts to make real strides in addressing the outlying factors such as housing, wages and the cost of living that make DSGBV more severe and harder to escape.

I will end my contribution by asking five questions on the issues I have raised. I would like the Minister of State to address them. Will ultimate responsibility for the agency rest in the Department of the Taoiseach as per the third national strategy? Will the agency have the power to compel robust cross-Department co-ordination and engagement? Will the Minister ensure there is a better balance between administrative power and front-line and sectoral experience on the board? How will the Minister ensure that the CEO has the power to shape the agency through independent staffing? How many positions in the agency will have already been filled by Tusla staff before the CEO is appointed? Where in the agency will those Tusla staff be placed?

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Deputy James Browne)

There has been a number of important questions here. I will not be able to address every single one of them but I will certainly endeavour for the Department to get responses to each of them. I wish to thank the Deputies for their contributions to a very important Bill. I am pleased to respond where I can on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. It is very encouraging to see the levels of support and goodwill towards this legislation. I think everybody was in favour of it, albeit with certain concerns and questions raised. Much has been said about the need for this agency and the value it will bring. However, that in no way negates any of the tireless work done by numerous agencies and bodies and their partners in the voluntary sector to provide supports and protections for victims and survivors, or the efforts made to increase public awareness of DSGBV, its causes, its enablers and its many harmful impacts. I am very familiar with the Wexford women's refuge and the Wexford Rape Crisis Centre and the very good work they do. We also always have to take into account those who are working with the victims of DSGBV and the trauma they themselves can experience in dealing with these very traumatic experiences.

There has never been a lack of application or commitment on the part of those tasked with these responsibilities. What has been lacking is a dedicated and sufficiently empowered centre of excellence to pull all of this good work together, push it forward in a joined-up manner and be a reservoir of expert support for colleagues across the public service. Experience has shown that what is needed now is a permanent structure with ring-fenced resources and expert staff to lead the delivery of Government strategies on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence; to plan and oversee the much-needed expansion of refuge accommodation nationwide; to manage the funding of key domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services and ensure the highest standards of delivery; to deliver high-quality awareness campaigns and information to the public, victims and people at risk; and to conduct continuous research and consultation to help assess whether the Government's policies, programmes and initiatives are meeting the needs of those they serve. The proposed agency will do all of this and more.

Establishing the agency on a statutory footing will give it the certainty, authority, expertise and ring-fenced resourcing that it needs to deliver on its mandate. This will ensure that there is an unwavering focus on the twin goals of zero tolerance and maximum support for those affected. While it is not practicable or appropriate to set out in statute every project or task that this State body might carry out, great care has been taken to ensure that its statutory functions are sufficiently open and broad-ranging to provide a strong and continuous mandate. Similarly, it is important to ensure that the functions are clearly delineated without being unduly restrictive. By way of example, the functions relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services have been drafted to ensure that the agency’s hands are not tied in respect of the types of service it may support, and also that such support is not necessarily limited to providing funding. Particular care has been taken to set out the context within which the agency is to perform its functions. This includes the statutory obligation on the agency to engage and collaborate with external stakeholders and to have regard to the diverse needs and circumstances of victims and persons at risk.

Careful attention was given to setting out the governance and accountability arrangements in the Bill. In this regard, the arrangements differ in certain respects from the general scheme. These changes were made for a number of reasons: to ensure the necessary demarcation of responsibilities between the chief executive and the board, to provide the clearest and most efficient line of accountability to the Minister and to allow the board to focus more on providing value-adding strategic oversight and policy advice. The board retains a strong and influential role under the Bill. While the functions of the agency shall be performed through the chief executive, he or she shall be required to consult and seek the guidance of the board when preparing the agency’s multi-annual corporate plan and annual business plan and will be required to have regard to the board’s views. The board will formally monitor and appraise the implementation of those plans, including public appraisal by the agency's annual report, which will be laid before the Houses and published online. More generally, the board will provide strategic direction to the agency, give advice and guidance to the chief executive and promote good corporate governance in agency. The board will also have the vital role of providing expert and independent policy advice to the Minister.

A wider point of accountability relates to the fact that this agency will be dispersing significant sums of public money for the provision of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services. Therefore, the Bill seeks to ensure not only that there are clear and thorough accountability arrangements for the agency itself, but that there are robust yet reasonable accountability requirements for the organisations in receipt of funding from the agency. This is in the interests not only of the taxpayer, but of all those who need to avail of these services. These statutory obligations will be fleshed out on an administrative basis by service-level agreements between the agency and each funded provider.

The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I are firmly of the belief that this statutory agency is vitally needed and will have a fundamental role to play in addressing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and helping those affected. Of course, this Bill is not the only legislative response that is needed. In fact, it forms part of a series of legislative measures that this Government has introduced and that aim to help counter domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and better support victims and survivors. In the area of criminal law alone, and with the support of this House, there have been several notable developments this year. The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Act 2023, enacted in April, will strengthen the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community. The Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023, which was signed into law in July, is a wide-ranging Act whose provisions include introducing stalking and non-fatal strangulation as stand-alone offences. It also increases from five to ten years the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, which is one of the most common offences in domestic violence cases. Also in July, the Minister published the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023, which will provide a range of new legal protections for victims of sexual and human trafficking offences. This year has also seen the commencement of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2020, under which victims of domestic violence will now be able to take up to five days per year of paid domestic violence leave. Earlier in the year, the Minister introduced the landmark Family Courts Bill, which aims to make the court system much more user friendly, including for families and children, in cases where domestic violence is involved.

These legislative measures complement numerous other actions taken under the third national domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy by various Government bodies in collaboration with partners in civil society. To give just one example, Deputies will no doubt be aware that there is an ongoing series of high-profile awareness and information campaigns, including recent campaigns to raise awareness of victims' rights and of intimate image abuse as a criminal offence. Further awareness campaigns on consent and victim protection are planned for later this year. These campaigns are currently led by my Department but will become a responsibility of the new agency on its establishment, as will Tusla's current role in driving and overseeing the ambitious plan to double the number of refuge spaces nationally by 2026.

The planned agency will be fully occupied from the get go with these and many other work streams, so it is vital that it can hit the ground running. A dedicated team in my Department is working intensively with other stakeholders to prepare the ground so that the agency can begin to work in earnest early in the new year. A number of personnel from Tusla, including some recently recruited specialists, are expected to transfer to the new agency on its establishment. Work is ongoing to source other staff in the interim. Strong leadership of the agency will be a key success factor. In this regard, I am pleased to note that the Public Appointments Service has launched a campaign to recruit the agency's first chief executive. The successful candidate will be appointed on a five-year contract at a level equivalent to Assistant Secretary in the Civil Service.

I thank the Deputies for their many thoughtful and constructive contributions during this debate. There will be further opportunities to tease out the issues that have been raised and the Minister looks forward to a constructive discussion on the detailed provisions of the Bill on Committee Stage.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank everyone involved.

Question put and agreed to.