Violence against Women: Statements (Resumed)
Dail Éireann — 2022-01-25
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Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

I will be sharing my time with Deputies Brendan Smith, Flaherty and Phelan.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this extremely important and solemn debate, and one which, like everyone, I simply wish we had no need to have. First, like others, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the family, friends and boyfriend of Ashling Murphy and all those in this country who have been touched by the brutal effects of that tragic murder. Unfortunately, it is yet another example of a woman being murdered at the hands of a man in this country. Once again, it is utterly unacceptable.
Like many, I spent the last few weeks listening to women share their experience of male violence and intimidation. I have listened to my colleagues in this Chamber and to the women in my life. In doing this, I have been exposed to another side of the lives of my friends and colleagues, a side I simply can never and will never experience. While I believe all men must continue to do this listening to try to understand what our female friends, family and colleagues go through on a daily basis, I welcome that beyond this listening there is an opportunity for us to continue to act more fervently in this area.
I welcome the progress the Minister, Deputy McEntee, has made ensuring that a new domestic sexual and gender-based violence strategy will be introduced into the Dáil before Easter. I welcome that stalking and non-fatal strangulation will be made criminal offences in the sexual offences Bill which will extend victim anonymity and ensure legal representation for victims. While this legislative work is crucial in creating a zero-tolerance of violence against women, we cannot rely on legislation alone to solve this issue.
Within the last year we have had a very sincere debate on domestic violence in this Chamber. A number of people made very important contributions and I was struck by one by my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, from the Labour Party about the need for us men to be role models in our communities at every level. That is something we need to think about and we need to take our work here in the Chamber and more widely in society more seriously and we need to be more thorough. We all have a part to play in improving our solidarity. All of us in the Chamber can and must do our bit. It is the least we can do for Ashling and her family.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-01-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:50:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-01-25