Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-12 ============================================================ Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I thank the Minister. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the motion. I have just come from the justice committee where we also discussed domestic violence, which is fantastic. I thank the Minister and the Department for the work they have put in to ensure that this conversation is front and centre at all times. Unfortunately, it shows the sad state of where we are at but it is important that we have open and transparent conversations on it. The motion recognises that domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a scourge on our society and that we must work collectively to tackle it in our communities, workplaces, political system and in wider society. Under Zero Tolerance: Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence there has been real, tangible progress across funding, legislation, prevention and victim support. We see that with the work Cuan and Women's Aid are doing. Only last week my good colleague Senator Comyn ensured the audiovisual room was fully packed for a conversation in that regard and on the next steps. I have no doubt she will address all of that. There is a need for at least another 280 refuge spaces across the country by the end of this year. The county council looks to the refuge in Galway city to provide refuge space for those who need it in Galway county. We do not have an independent allocation of refuge spaces within the county, which is unfortunate. As the Minister knows, that is not an isolated case. Any attempt by accommodation providers to exploit their position and prey on vulnerable individuals through a so-called sex-for-rent arrangement is completely unacceptable. In recent months, the Minister was present when legislation and motions in that regard were brought forward. I welcome the work he has done on Valerie's Law. That is very commendable and was much-needed. Going forward we need to work with local authorities to ensure there are wraparound supports and that when a person makes the decision to leave the family home, the next steps are in place. I also welcome the work done by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, on travel, and the work on rent supplement, but so much more is required for women to leave the family home. We must ensure that they stay in the community, that children can continue to access education and that women can continue to work in a dignified and supported mechanism. We must remove the stigma and ensure employers understand and support such women. It is unfortunate that when women take those next steps, they are hit with barriers they should not encounter, in particular if they own or share a local authority property where both names are concerned. If a woman leaves the family home, she does not have the right to return to it and she must seek accommodation, perhaps in another local authority. In many such cases, in all fairness, women do not feel they are supported. There is a lot of work still to be done at grassroots level within organisations. A bottom-up approach is needed. A lot of this is outside the remit of the Department of justice. When we talk about wraparound supports, we are talking about the justice system supporting women and the Department of Education and Youth supporting children and ensuring that they can attend school, but the most important thing is for there to be a safe roof over a person's head. That would give people confidence to flee a situation. The zero-tolerance strategy is very important. It includes a commitment to double the number of refuge spaces in the country by the end of 2026. I look forward to the Minister outlining how we are addressing that and when we are going to get to a stage where every county in this country has a provision for people who choose to take the first step of removing themselves from the family home. The programme for Government commits to criminalising those who seek sex in exchange for rent. Senator Comyn will go into the sex trafficking that is also a blight and how people are exploited by this industry. Last week in the audiovisual room, we heard about nail bars and hair salons and what is going on under the radar in this country that people might not be aware of at all. It is shocking. I want to finally focus on ladies leaving a situation, who have children with additional needs, including those who are non-verbal. We need to improve our understanding and how the courts system and health system engage and communicate with a child who is non-verbal. Could the Minister comment on how the judicial system engages with parents who have vulnerable children or young adults who need support? Does it understand that not all communication is verbal and that we must have intermediaries to support children who are non-verbal? Sometimes, we unfortunately forget about children who are non-verbal or children with additional needs going through the courts system. We are trying to support the victims - the mothers – but there are other victims, namely, the children who also carry the trauma for years. How do we ensure that children who are non-verbal in particular recover but also have their voices heard? It is an unusual situation, but it is one that we need to address. I will hand over to Senator Comyn. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-12/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:55+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-12