Bríd Smith: Demands Urgent Action on Domestic Violence
Bríd Smith spoke on gender-based violence, calling for urgent implementation of supports under the Istanbul Convention and an expansion of refuge places for women and children fleeing domestic violence. She criticised slow progress on refuges, problematic court practices, gaps in sex education, housing failures and barriers to abortion access for war rape survivors in Poland.
Refuge shortage and local examples
She highlighted a national deficit in refuge provision, saying calculations show a need for 472 refuge places but only 143 exist. She cited local campaigning in Carlow and noted that in the first nine months of 2021 some 500 incidents of domestic violence were reported to Gardaí in Carlow and Kilkenny, with a single inadequate refuge in Kilkenny serving both counties.
Court processes and victim blaming
She criticised how courts treat survivors, citing victim-blaming questions about sexual history and alcohol and the use of private counselling notes as evidence — a practice she said is unique to these cases. She called for reforms to protect survivors from intrusive and retraumatising courtroom procedures.
Sex education and prevention
She argued for a non-ethos-based sex education system as a prevention measure and noted that legislative proposals on sex education remain awaiting action. She urged that government cannot be allowed to delay and that stronger preventive education is needed to address underlying power inequalities.
Housing and localised supports
She described the practical housing crisis for survivors, citing Ballyfermot where dozens of houses were emptied during COVID and 70% of those fleeing are now in homeless services. She called for stronger legislation to allow local authorities to prioritise keeping the family in the home while removing the abuser, and for local liaison officers to deliver wraparound services.
Poland, war rape and EU response
She raised concern about Polish legislation that requires survivors of rape to obtain court proof before accessing abortion, a rule affecting women fleeing the Ukraine war in Poland. She said the issue should alarm EU justice ministers and noted planned protests outside the Polish Council on Eden Quay, urging pressure on states to ensure reproductive care for survivors, especially in cases of war rape. She welcomed a directive seeking to strengthen the Istanbul Convention and said it highlights weaknesses in implementation across the EU.
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I want to fully agree with you in welcoming this directive that gender-based violence directed against a woman is because she is a woman and that such violence is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relationships between men and women and I think we should bear that in mind every time we look at this subject because there are so many aspects of trying to address that problem in the sort of society that has grown up over hundreds of years of relying on women to reproduce the next generation at no cost, to do the care in the home at no cost and to devalue and undermine the role that women play in society in general. It is a legacy issue but it is one we can address with a lot of action. I suppose for most people what is disappointing is that in 2015 we signed the Istanbul Convention and it was ratified with Charlie Flanagan in your seat in 2019 but this is 2022 and we are still way behind in terms of facilitating the spaces and the supports that are required for women and children who are fleeing domestic violence. And here I just want to give a shout out in a proud way to two areas. One is Carlow where our local councillor Adrian has been doing wonderful work on campaigning. It is one of the counties of the nine that has no refuge and according to Aid's own figures in the first nine months of 2021 it was revealed that 500 incidents of domestic violence were reported to Gardaí and Carlow in Kilkenny. There is a refuge in Kilkenny but it is totally inadequate as we can see from those figures and that can be repeated right throughout the country. And if the Istanbul Convention in 2015 said that without spelling out our figures but when you do the calculation we should have 472 refuge places and only have 143 there is indeed an urgency around this. There is an urgency around dealing with the courts and the victim blaming experiences that women have, being asked about their sexual history, how much they had to drink etc. And even their private counselling notes being used. No other crime allows therapy notes to be used in evidence. And then there is the outstanding issue as other deputies have spoken about which is the need for a proper non-ethos based sex education system in this country. We put in a bill in the last Eractys and I believe there are other bills still sitting there waiting to be dealt with. It would be great if this initiative came from the government but we cannot afford to wait for it. And then there is the practical and the most important practical things about having a safe home to live in. And I know from our councillor Hazel de Nortoorn in Dublin City Council that alone in Ballyfermot there are dozens of houses that have been emptied, abandoned by women and children, particularly during the COVID crisis because they had to get out. And most of them, 70% of them are in homeless services and that is right across the country. So we need to strengthen the legislation as well for local authorities to be able to intervene and decide that a family home is a family home and any abuser within that home shouldn't be allowed to stay but the family itself should. There is a huge amount to be done on raising awareness around this issue and we do need supports that are localised. Local authorities should have a liaison officer and that is something that we are trying to achieve in Dublin City Council. A liaison officer who actually knows the families, who deals with them and ensures that they have the wraparound services. The last thing I want to finish on is a question I raised here with the Taoiseach some time ago. In Poland there is legislation, very severe legislation, that refuses an abortion on the grounds of rape until you go to court and prove that you had actually been raped. And that is now impacting on hundreds of women fleeing the Ukraine war, now living in Poland, who cannot procure abortions from rape because of war. And there is a bill going before the Polish Parliament today and on Thursday. So on Thursday at one o'clock, a number of feminist groups, the Women's Council, ourselves and others, will be putting a protest outside the Polish Council on Eden Quay. And we are asking people to support that. Now the protest is against what the Polish Government are doing, but really the EU and Justice Ministers like yourself need to shout out about this. It is a war crime to rape a woman. There is no way that they can prove that they were raped by Russian soldiers, but there is no way that they can procure an abortion as a result of that rape. So I think this really goes to the heart of kind of, if you like, a gap or a hypocrisy in the EU, that if this is happening under our noses as a consequence of a war crime, that we should be shouting out about it and really putting pressure on the various states to ensure that that practice is ceased, that women have proper access to reproductive care, but particularly in the case of a war crime and rape. And just to welcome that this directive is trying to strengthen the Istanbul Convention, which indicates that there have been weaknesses in how it has been implemented right across the EU.
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