Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Dee Ryan (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I thank the Minister for coming to the House for this important debate. I support many of the views expressed across the House today and thank my colleagues for bringing the issue forward. I thank the Minister for the work he has done on Jennie's law, Valerie's law, the reform of the use of therapy notes and the expansion of refuge places. I would also like to commend the fine work being done by those in the protective services units right across the country, who are dealing with this issue day in, day out in a very sensitive and responsive way.
When the Minister was in Limerick before Christmas last year, we brought him to see Adapt House, which is the only refuge service in Limerick city and county. It accepts referrals from the hinterland as well. Last year, it supported 124 families in need of refuge places and 700 women in outreach services, both in their own homes and in the spaces at Adapt House for therapies, counselling and meetings. It also handled 2,500 calls on its help-line. That demand is just in our small part of the world. We know how large this issue is from the figures mentioned in many Senators' contributions today.
When he was in Limerick, the Minister heard about Adapt House's plans for expansion of its services and I welcome the support and co-operation of the HSE, Tusla and Cuan in advancing those ambitions. The HSE owns a parcel of land in Limerick that it is trying to hand over to enable that expansion to happen. Interestingly, the facilities that Adapt House is going to be developing will not be further refuge spaces. It is developing further spaces for its outreach programme, including facilities for play therapy and group therapy. The demand is so large in the area that Adapt House could not possibly accommodate everyone who might seek a refuge space.
While I am hugely supportive of Senator Comyn's work on move-on accommodation and giving the local authorities a greater role in developing such accommodation, we need a radical shift in how we approach this issue. Why are we placing the burden of making oneself safe on the victim of the crime? Why is that the perspective through which we approach this issue when we know from speaking to Women's Aid, Adapt House and others that the greatest barrier to women coming forward and reporting this issue is that lack of move-on space? I have been doing a lot of work on this and would like to thank the Minister and his special adviser for being supportive of the draft legislation that I hope to bring forward, with his support and that of my colleagues, at a future point. That legislation is about protection for the victims of domestic violence, home security and protection in their own homes. I have been looking at what is happening in comparable jurisdictions, including France, Portugal and Spain, which are incorporating elements of electronic tagging on perpetrators of violence to ensure that there is greater protection for the victims of violence. We have to reconsider why barring orders are the only orders that exclude the perpetrator of violence from the family home. Why are we not also offering that protection to people through safety orders or protection orders? I will continue to look at this. In France the law allows judges to combine GPS monitoring with protection orders in criminal proceedings. Portugal also uses electronic monitoring to enforce no-contact and exclusion areas.
We have an opportunity here, with the Minister's support, to make the shift that needs to be made, to take the responsibility and the onus off the victims and place it on the perpetrator. Victims should not have to be keeping themselves safe and hidden away. They should not have to be reporting a breach of an order. The onus should be on the perpetrator of the violence to comply with a court order.

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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