A new report into familicide and domestic homicides in Ireland has issued its recommendations today. They include establishing a domestic and family violence death review process. This report is historic, and I commend all those who ensured that this groundbreaking work took place. It was secured following tireless campaigning from families who have been affected by this devastating violence. It is the culmination of many years of work by the late Norah Gibbons, whom we remember, and Maura Butler, as chairs of the team that produced the report, and I commend both women. The report came after determined advocacy from those working within the sector, who were determined to see this moment finally come and to ensure that no other family would feel the same agony to which they have been subjected.

Familicide is an utterly devastating crime. This devastating violence cuts through families in the most cruel way. Families across Ireland live in its shadow as they struggle to comprehend the magnitude of their loss. The truth is that this State has been an outlier for too long in how it has failed to take a robust approach to addressing such crimes. The report recommends establishing the domestic and family violence death review process. It recommends that a national database be established for reporting on violent family deaths. It also recommends a new agency for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence as well as better training for people supporting families affected. Importantly, it also recommends that practical supports be put in place for families in the immediate aftermath of a violent death and in the longer term.

I welcome every single one of these important recommendations. It is crucial that they are now enacted without delay in order that real and meaningful change is delivered. Families have waited for so long already for these recommendations to come to light. This groundbreaking report cannot be allowed to gather dust on a shelf or be siphoned off to one Department. We need to see urgency, a clear plan and a timeline for action. That means an all-of-government approach. In the North, domestic violence homicide reviews have been in place for some time now, so the Government might usefully look at what has worked well in the North and what can be improved in order that families get the very best support possible.

Tá an iomarca teaghlach scriosta de bharr finemharaithe. Molaim a bhfeachtas. Níor staon siad dá n-iarrachtaí ag an Rialtas chun córais chearta, láidre a chur i bhfeidhm chun dul i ngleic leis na coireanna uafásacha seo. Tá an tuarascáil ar an bhforéigean seo foilsithe agus tá gealltanais shoiléire ag teastáil ó na teaghlaigh seo go dtiocfaidh athrú ar an gcóras. The Government has published this report. When will the recommendations become reality? Will the Government ensure that this is implemented urgently in order that families can get the support they need without any further delay?

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is an exceptionally sensitive and important report into the most difficult of circumstances possible. When the Minister, Deputy Harris, was briefing the Government on this report yesterday morning, it reminded me, and I am sure it has reminded all of us, that there are a set of tragic circumstances that I think are beyond the ability of most of us even to imagine. We can only recognise the trauma and then the bravery of many who have to live with the consequences of such death and violence.

I join Deputy McDonald in recognising the role of families who have engaged in this process in such a brave and dignified way. Their voices were critical to the work that has now been carried out and to the publication of what is a very substantial report. I wish also to refer to and to recognise the former Minister for Justice, our colleague Deputy Flanagan, who responded to this tragic and complex phenomenon by commissioning this report and by putting in place the process the Dáil is now raising.

I will deal with the two issues Deputy McDonald raised and her important point that this matter is so important that it transcends the Department of Justice. She asked how we will look to move this matter forward. We will do so now by the establishment of a number of groups that we believe will offer a cohesive and effective way of dealing with such tragedies, first in trying to prevent them from happening and, second, when they do happen, on the saddest of occasions, in trying to see what we can do as a State to respond to those who have survived familicide.

What will we do? In line with the report's recommendations, three groups will be established. First, there will be an interdepartmental group. It will be interdepartmental because, as the Deputy rightly said, this is such an important matter. It goes beyond the Department of Justice. We recognise the roles of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the HSE and the Department of Education in regard to it. Second, we want to set up an advisory group made up of representatives of the NGOs and other stakeholders who have built up such expertise and insight into this tragic issue. Finally, and most appropriately, we will put in place an advisory group made up of the families of victims to hear their voices and views on how we should respond to deaths the circumstances of which are beyond the ability of many of us to imagine. We have a duty to respond to them.

Coming out of all that, we will consider how to implement the recommendations of the report. I have no doubt at all that when the groups are established, we will prioritise actions and lay out how the recommendations will be implemented. From having heard the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, speak about this matter yesterday, I have little doubt that we will move to priority actions and to their implementation once the groups are established.

I acknowledge there is already much work under way that tries to respond to the loss of life in the terrible circumstances under discussion. Work on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is under way in schools and through the provision of additional training and expertise. There is new work under way on the setting up of refuges and on determining how we can provide support to those fleeing the most difficult and desperate of circumstances. I join the Deputy in recognising the sensitivity of this matter. She can be assured that the Government will do all it can to respond to the recommendations issued in yesterday's substantial and important report.

I thank the Minister for that response. He has rightly described familicide and violence of that nature as tragic. It is certainly evident on witnessing the absolute bewilderment of a survivor of this violence. In this regard, I am thinking of Kathleen Chada. When I first met her, she told the story of losing her two boys. How to make sense of that is beyond any of us, I am sure. What families tell us is that they experience not just the trauma of a tragedy but also that of a crime. These are crimes as well. In many cases, families feel almost like onlookers or bystanders in their own heartbreaking chaos and tragedy, and they are met with a system that is not fully sympathetic. It certainly is not organised around supporting the families and, crucially, learning from the events. All in the system need to learn the red flags, signals and dangers because the objective has to be to try to prevent these awful crimes.

The Minister has described the groups to be established. Which member of the Cabinet will drive this work? Will it fall to the Taoiseach?

The Deputy is right in being very clear in calling out crimes that are the subject of such trauma and sorrow. Like the Deputy, when I see the reports of the crimes and particularly the funerals and those mourning the loss of life because of the crimes, I find it difficult to comprehend. My human response is to look away briefly, particularly if the loss of life of children is involved. We are all aware of recent crimes and tragedies that have involved children. The role of the State is so critical because we have a duty not to look away. We have a duty to engage and give support.

I respectfully differ from Deputy McDonald, who has raised such an important issue, regarding her reference to a lack of sympathy. Sympathy is always present when we are confronted with these circumstances. Again, however, I recognise that we need to do better as a state and society in preventing these crimes and, where they occur, dealing with their consequences in the most humane way possible.

I expect it will be the Minister for Justice who will take the lead on this initiative, given that the report originated in his Department, but I assure the Deputy that everybody who is aware of this report and was briefed on it yesterday will play their role in implementing its recommendations.