Kathleen Funchion: Proposes Paid Leave for Domestic Violence Victims
Kathleen Funchion spoke on domestic violence and coercive control, supporting a proposal for a statutory entitlement of up to 10 days paid leave in a 12-month period for employees affected by domestic violence. She said the measure would be one small step to help mainly women and set out the social, economic and homelessness impacts underscored during COVID.
Legislative proposal
Kathleen Funchion described a recent announcement by colleagues Deputy Mary Lou MacDonald and Deputy Louise O'Reilly that they would introduce legislation to create a statutory entitlement of up to 10 days paid leave in a 12-month period for employees as a consequence of domestic violence. She characterised the leave as a modest but important measure to assist mainly women in abusive situations.
Scale of the problem
Funchion highlighted that domestic violence and coercive control are widespread and often hidden, and said COVID has either increased incidents or put them into stark focus. She cited that between March and June this year some 21,000 calls from women or concerned citizens were answered by domestic violence services, a significant rise on the same period last year.
Economic and practical barriers
She emphasised the economic costs and practical barriers that prevent women leaving abusive relationships - including financial control by the abuser and situations where families are on a single social welfare claim. Funchion argued for quicker, more common-sense responses when women attempt to leave, especially where children are involved.
Homelessness and refuge pressures
Funchion warned that domestic abuse is the leading cause of homelessness for women and children in Ireland and described the harsh reality of women and children displaced into refuges while the perpetrator remains at home. She called for faster solutions so women might return to stable housing sooner where appropriate.
Prevention and long-term support
She urged legislators to invest time and resources in a long-term framework to prevent domestic abuse, including counselling and support to break cycles of violence that can carry into adulthood. Funchion stressed the need for long-term thinking and targeted supports to protect women and children and to prevent intergenerational transmission of abuse.
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Thanks very much, Laskin and Carlisle. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this topic. We have had a number of debates in this chamber in relation to domestic violence. As we know, there has been a huge increase since COVID or during COVID, or maybe actually it has just highlighted it more rather than it has actually been an increase. Domestic violence and coercive control are unfortunately widespread, it is often hidden, and the situations that unfortunately it is mainly women find themselves in are extremely complex. So, we also know that between March and June of this year, that 21,000 calls from women or other concerned citizens were answered from various domestic violence services. This was unfortunately a significant increase on the same period last year, but as I just pointed out earlier, I think it is possible that COVID has just put it all into stark focus. Earlier this week, my colleagues, Deputy Mary Lou MacDonald and Deputy Louise O'Reilly announced that we would introduce legislation to create a statutory entitlement of up to 10 days paid leave in a 12-month period for employees as a consequence of domestic violence. Now, this would just be one small measure to help and assist mainly women in this situation. There is a huge emotional and psychological and personal cost of domestic violence, and it is devastating, and there are also obviously significant economic costs associated with this crime. And it is often due to financial reasons and economic reasons that women find it so difficult to leave in the first place, particularly because there are often children involved, and they are very worried about how exactly they are going to be able to provide for themselves, particularly where the man has control of the finances, or in a social welfare situation where they are all on the one claim. And I think it is in situations like that, where we need to have a lot more common sense, and they need to be able to be dealt with a lot quicker if a woman is leaving in that situation. There is obviously also, and some people have touched on it, a direct correlation between domestic violence and homelessness. Domestic abuse is the leading cause of homelessness for women and children in Ireland, and I know I find it so frustrating when you are dealing with people who are forced to leave their home. And obviously, in many situations, that has to be the first step, because it is the safest step, and it is the only way for somebody to actually get out with their children. But then you have a situation where a man who has been involved in domestic violence is sitting at home on his own in a three-bed house, while the women and children's lives have been totally upheavalled, and they are stuck in a refuge somewhere. I understand why it has to be a first step, but we need to get far better at dealing with that situation a lot more quickly for women in that situation, so that they can possibly be the ones to return to the home a lot faster than we currently see happening. As legislators, I think it is incumbent on us to invest time and resources to create a framework and policies that seek to prevent domestic abuse. We must have a long-term vision to protect women and children in this country. And I know, and I am even guilty of it sometimes myself when we talk about this debate, that you do talk about the domestic violence services, but we do actually need long-term thinking. And we need to realise as well that we have to try and break that link, that if you are grown up in a domestic violence situation and those issues are not dealt with, you will carry that into your own adulthood, possibly for your own children. And so, so we need to kind of realise that, and we need to deal with that in terms of counselling and in terms of support so that people can break that cycle, and I will leave it at that, because time is up. Thank you train Carla. Thank you. Thank you Deputy. . . .
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