Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

Ar dtús, gabhaim buíochas le Seanadóirí Fhianna Fáil as an rún fíorthábhachtach seo a chur síos. Tá a lán oibre ag dul ar aghaidh i mo Roinn féin agus táim ag déanamh a lán oibre ar an gceist dheacair seo. I thank the Fianna Fáil Senators for putting down this extremely important motion. A number of people have indicated it is regrettable or even shameful that we have to discuss this issue again in the House, but it is better that we talk about it until such time as we can say it has been absolutely eliminated from Irish society. That will be a difficult task to achieve, but it is certainly preferable that we debate it and discuss it rather than what happened many years ago.
Senator McCarthy earlier gave an indication of some personal experience he had as a child. That we are discussing this problem now in Ireland is much better than what happened years ago, when it was to a large extent swept under the carpet. I also very much welcome the contributions from individual Senators. I will not go through all the individual issues they have raised, but I hope to deal with them in the substance of my response here.
It is important to point out that this problem is not confined to Ireland. As many Senators have indicated, it is a significant issue in Northern Ireland and, regrettably, throughout Europe and the world as well. I had the pleasure last week of attending the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh, where I spoke with Naomi Long, who is the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice, about this very issue. We had a lengthy discussion about an awful case in Northern Ireland. I do not know if people here have read the harrowing details of the murder of Katie Simpson. It is not something unique to Northern Ireland; we have had similar examples here. In fact, there was a certain cross-Border element to the ongoing torture and coercive control of that young woman by the man responsible for her murder, in that some of the equestrian training happened in Lifford in County Donegal. We can really see that we need an all-Ireland response to these issues.
Before I deal with the substance of the issues raised, I want to emphasise a point in response to the focus that has correctly been placed on refuge spaces and safe accommodation. Sometimes the topic of domestic violence can be focused on exclusively through the prism of how many refuge spaces we have - in fairness, this did not happen in this House - but that is not the way we need to focus on this issue. Clearly, refuge spaces are absolutely important. I want to see refuge spaces and other safe accommodation in every county. However, we cannot allow that to become the sole and primary focus of our response to the scourge of domestic violence. It should not be the case that we elevate as being the primary solution the departure of a woman from a home where she has been abused. We all recognise in this House that what really is essential is that the person responsible for the abuse is removed, not the person who needs to seek refuge in the short term.
As Senators are aware, in my Department there is a new statutory body called Cuan, which implements Government policy and puts forward progress reports in respect of how I am doing and how the Government is doing in response to this critical issue. Zero tolerance is the principle by which we operate. It is an important principle because there can be absolutely no tolerance of this type of behaviour. The Government has made significant progress in implementing the zero-tolerance national strategy to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. We have introduced new legislation, expanded and improved services, and reformed how the justice system responds. The existence of Cuan is an important element in that response insofar as we have a separate statutory agency that is vigorously implementing Government policy.
Ultimately, however, I and the rest of the Government are responsible for ensuring we have a thorough response to it. Last month I launched the progress report on the implementation of the zero-tolerance strategy in 2025. That report is well worth reading. It highlights developments across key priority areas, including improving access to justice, safe accommodation issues, consent education and other matters. We also have significant work by Cuan. We now have a more developed, more robust monitoring framework. It is important there is a progress report on the objectives I have set out to ensure we have zero tolerance to see how they are being implemented because unless we have that level of oversight, we cannot deliver at pace or scale the responsibilities and obligations that need to be implemented. The four pillars of the Istanbul Convention form the basis of what we trying to do in this area. These are prevention, protection, prosecution and policy co-ordination. They certainly guide the policy objectives and progress contained within the progress reports.
Safe accommodation is obviously an important part of this. It is certainly the case that if a woman is facing violence in the home, there will inevitably be a requirement for short-term accommodation so she can flee the home. As I said previously, the ultimate solution is that barring orders be granted against the abuser. On the provision of safe accommodation, I am working closely, as is Cuan, with domestic violence services to ensure we increase refuge accommodation and reach the strategy objectives. Obviously one of the most visible commitments under the strategy is to see the opening up of new refuge centres. I was in Dundalk recently and turned the sod on one there. As Senator Clifford-Lee said, there is work being done in Balbriggan. In Cavan and Monaghan as well, there is now a plan to have a refuge in each place. I also had the benefit of being in Limerick with Senator Ryan.
By the end of this year, the number of safe accommodation spaces will be substantially expanded. In addition, I have ensured we continue to invest significantly in expanding capacity and strengthening support services across the country. As has been indicated, I secured funding of almost €80 million under budget 2026 to support front-line critical services.
A number of Senators mentioned another important aspect of what we are doing, namely, trying to change the law. I come forward with the legislative proposals, as do many Senators and TDs, but ultimately it is the function of this House and the Dáil to determine whether they become law. As has been indicated, the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 was published in January and brings forward further amendments in relation to the disclosure of counselling notes. As was indicated by Senator Comyn, unfortunately we have got to a stage where counselling notes are routinely provided to the defence in prosecutions for rape or sexual assault. I am going to change that. I am going to introduce a statutory presumption of non-disclosure in respect of counselling notes. This means the default position will be that counselling notes will not be disclosed, save for a very small number of cases where a judge, having looked at the counselling note, will say that note is relevant to the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused. That is going to be a significant alteration of the law. It will apply not only to counselling notes but also to other sensitive records of a victim and their personal data, such as medical records, child protection records and other such documents. I believe I will bring Committee Stage of that Bill before the select committee on 19 May.
As has also been mentioned, I secured Cabinet approval to publish the guardianship of infants (amendment) Bill 2026, sometimes referred to as Valerie's law. I will be introducing that legislation in Dáil Éireann on 21 May. It will remove, in certain circumstances, guardianship rights from individuals convicted of killing the other parent of their child. As I have said previously, I commend Valerie French's brother David on his instrumental role in campaigning for this.
I also secured Government approval for the drafting of the criminal justice (domestic violence register) Bill 2026. I have been given an assurance I will have a stamped copy of that in the next number of weeks. I will not tie down an exact date but it is coming and will certainly be introduced in the Houses before the summer recess. That will establish a publicly accessible domestic violence register of judgments, to be published by the Courts Service. I thank Senator O'Loughlin for her great assistance in this. As she mentioned, this was inspired by Jason Poole, whose sister Jennifer was murdered by a man who had a very serious conviction about which she knew nothing. We need to recognise that if people are convicted in our courts of serious offences, those offences are recorded in public and it is a public record that people should be able to access. I am facilitating that in the legislation that is being brought forward.
It is also important to recognise children and young people are victims in their own right of domestic violence in the home. It is a hugely significant change that centres the specific needs of children and young people who, in the past, had primarily been identified as witnesses of abuse. They are not witnesses of abuse. Any child growing up in a house where there is domestic violence will be traumatised by that. That is also why I was recently in Dundalk. Senator Comyn will probably think I am spending too much time in Louth. We recently had a cross-Border initiative with the PSNI and the teaching boards in County Down about Operation Encompass. We are putting this in legislation. It will ensure that where a child is affected by domestic violence, there is a timely, co-ordinated and child-centred response, including at their school. That is something we are progressing and there is great cross-Border co-operation on it. It will be advanced further.
Another issue in respect of the courts is how we hear the voice of the child. It can be very difficult and challenging for the voice of the child to be heard but I have proposals on how that can be done. I have received reports in my Department that I believe will be advantageous to children in the family law context.
Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union is commencing in July and I have made a decision that there will be, certainly at the informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in July, a very strong focus on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls. Member states are busy transposing the new EU directive on combating violence against women in advance of next year's deadline. This is a huge body of work that will standardise measures across member states in respect of criminal offences, policy development, data collection and co-ordination. Ireland is ahead of most EU countries when it comes to the transposition of the obligations under this directive. Very many justice or home affairs ministers from other member states want to discuss with me how we are responding to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. That does not make me in any way complacent - it is a big issue - but the fact there is a lot going on here is probably the reason for the increase in reporting we are seeing. It is important we make this scourge as socially unacceptable as drink driving. We just need to get it out from behind closed doors and emphasise it will not be tolerated. That is why the courts and the legislation we are proposing are important.
Another important and interesting topic is the impact that violent and extreme pornography is having on the development of the sexuality of young people, including teenage children and young men and women. I suspect most of us in the Chamber are not aware of what is happening on the Internet but the level of violence online in pornography is completely distorting young people's view of sexuality for those who have seen it. There is a real obligation on us to ensure we do not allow that distorted perception of sexuality to dominate or influence how people's sexuality develops. Senator Clonan very sensibly referred to the obligations of the social media companies to try to ensure this type of information is kept away from children.
My view is that when it comes to violent pornography and horrific scenes, we should be protecting everyone from that and not just children. I can tell the House there are issues I am considering in this regard.
Under my direction, work has begun on developing the fourth national strategy, which will maintain and build upon key achievements, actions, priorities and learnings from the zero-tolerance strategy. The bedrock of this process will be consultation and co-design with stakeholders in the sector so that their practical experiences, insights and expertise will inform every aspect of the strategy. Listening to Senators and hearing their contributions is also extremely important to me in formulating the strategy.

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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