Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2021-10-20
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

The feminist performance piece A Rapist in your Path was first performed in Chile in November 2019. It quickly went viral because it resonated with women in particular, with street performances by activists around the world, including in Ireland. The central point of the piece is to highlight the complicity of the state in violence against women. Many here today might think that that has little relevance to the Irish State. I am sorry to say that that is entirely wrong.
The citizens' assembly recommendation on question 34(a) was endorsed by 98.9%. It calls on the State to support justice for victims and survivors by: "Reviewing and reforming the courts system – including the family courts – to better protect and support victims/survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and their dependents and remove barriers to justice."
The recommendation on question 34(b), endorsed by a vote of 95.6%, calls for "developing guidelines and specialist training for judges and lawyers regarding the treatment of victims/survivors". Yet, several times now in this Chamber, I raised the issue of the now retired Judge James O'Connor, who blatantly and repeatedly sexually harassed multiple women who came to his court for his assistance-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-10-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-10-20