Ireland has accepted its “stark” domestic violence figures for too long, its justice minister has said.
Helen McEntee gave a run-through of her strategy to combat gender-based violence – a central aim of her tenure in the justice role – during an address to the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) on Thursday.
Quoting figures from the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, she said that one in three women in Europe have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence during their lifetime; one in 20 women have been raped; and two in five women have experienced psychological abuse from a current or former partner.
She also quoted “stark, disturbing” figures from An Garda Siochana which found that domestic abuse was a factor in the majority of murders and manslaughters last year.
“We have to stop accepting these stark figures,” she said on Thursday, adding that “for too long” Ireland’s rates of domestic abuse had been accepted.
She said that there has been a “whole of Government” approach to tackling domestic and gender-based, and that attitudes around domestic violence still needed to change in homes, Whatsapp groups and online.
She said that this is part of a “zero-tolerance” approach.
Ms McEntee said she had been asked what a zero-tolerance approach means.
Is it a Rudi Giuliani-style ‘tough on crime’, she was asked, referring to the former mayor of New York’s zero-tolerance approach to policing crimes of any type.
Her zero-tolerance strategy aims to double the available refuge spaces across the country, she said, as well as teach children in an “age-appropriate” way from an early age about respect and what healthy relationships are.
“The idea that children are shielded from this is simply nonsense, we have to acknowledge that and work and engage with children,” Ms McEntee said.
Ms McEntee said it means supporting victims when they come forward and to provide effective training for gardai, the courts system, and the health service staff who engage with victims.
She also spoke about increasing maximum sentencing, so that victims are encouraged to come forward, and aiming to prevent domestic violence from happening in the first place.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get to a situation where we can say domestic violence has been completely eradicated, but we can certainly do our best to prevent it, to minimise it as much as possible.
“And that really does require changing hearts, minds and attitudes right across society.”
While acknowledging that domestic violence cannot be eliminated entirely, Ms McEntee said the bar has to be set as high as possible.
She said that there was still a view in Ireland that domestic violence is a domestic issue that should be dealt with in the home, including in An Garda Siochana, but that “huge strides” had been made to change that.
“Am I satisfied that the attitudes have changed in general? I don’t think we’re quite at that point.
“So I don’t think it just applies to Guards, it applies everywhere that there is still, for some, a perception that domestic violence is a domestic issue and that’s how it should be dealt with.
“But I think we’re making huge strides and huge progress in changing that, and I would say yes, absolutely in the Guards, and I think there has been huge progress made.”
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