Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-24
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

This is a societal issue. Blaming Government for what is going on alone is not a sufficient response. The impact report is quite shocking. It reported 62,275 disclosures of domestic abuse. That is an increase of 33%, including 4,755 involving children. This is a shameful and shocking indictment on Irish society.
We need, and there has been, a significant criminal justice response. The Minister for justice has progressed Jennie's law and Valerie's law, the first of which relates to a domestic violence register and the second removes guardianship rights of those convicted of killing partners. We have the national strategy. We are now heading towards a fourth strategy and I invite submissions from the House and different parties in respect of this issue. We have the O'Malley report in terms of the journey of a victim through our courts system and a lot of that has been implemented. Cuan was established, probably the most significant development in the past number of years, which is a national agency to try to pull things together. There is more investment in refuge.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-24