There have been two femicides this week in Ireland, a femicide being the killing of a woman because she is a woman. The femicide count in this country has officially surpassed the total of last year and it is only July. We send our solidarity to the loved ones of Adina Constantin and Jamey Carney.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that figures on violence against women are going in the wrong direction, but what has the Government actually done about them? The most basic thing the Government could do is properly fund the organisations that deal with violence against women. Instead, they are charities. These charities have seen rocketing calls. Women's Aid saw an 11.5% rise last year. There were 62,275 disclosures. It got €1.3 million from the Government. It had to raise €2.7 million in donations. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, DRCC, had the highest number of calls since its foundation. It got €3.3 million and had to fundraise €1.8 million itself. Does that really strike the Minister as taking gender-based violence seriously when people have to rely on 5 km runs and bag packs to function? If we compare this with the hospitality VAT cut of €680 million or the €25 million for the greyhound industry, it speaks volumes.

The UN has said about gender-related killings, "Initiatives that focus on ... prevention, changing social norms, and engaging whole communities to create zero tolerance for violence against women, work best". This society has a very high tolerance for violence against women: rape allegations against multiple footballers playing in the World Cup, and they play on; the US ambassador going to Conor McGregor's pub, somebody found liable in a civil case for rape; the Taoiseach honouring Trump, a predator, and not listening to survivors when they ask about legislative change.

When is the Minister going to tackle the violent misogyny being spread by Internet companies? The rise in violent misogyny has run parallel to the rise in the statistics for violence against women. Will the Government contact mainstream media outlets that yesterday irresponsibly stoked up the flames of racism by reporting that an asylum seeker was being sought for the murder? The common denominator in violence against women is men, not a nationality. Since Women's Aid has been tracking femicide, it has found that 88% of women were killed by somebody known to them. That includes sons and grandsons. There is a figure from the UK - a mother is more likely to be killed by her own son than by a stranger. Violence against women rocketed during Covid. Why? Because women were stuck in their own homes with their own partners. That disputes any notion that this is anything to do with strangers, asylum seekers or whatever. It became known as a shadow pandemic. What is this Government doing about the pandemic of gender-based violence? It does not strike me that it is treating it as the public health emergency that it is.

Hear, hear.

Absolutely, I concur with the Deputy on the serious nature of femicide and sexual and gender-based violence. That is why the Government does treat this issue with the utmost seriousness. My sympathies go out to any family who have been affected by this. The pain and trauma of victims who have to live with the scars of the actions of others is unimaginable.

First, I will put on the record that there is about €80 million under budget 2026 to support this sector. We have really worked to increase the number of domestic violence units, which is up 30% from 2022, and the number of safe houses, which really needs a huge amount of additional work. I would accept that there are a lot of gaps right across the country that we have to fill. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, took a huge leadership role in this area in the previous Government, which is being carried on by the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, in the current Government.

If we look at the actions that have happened, we have our third national zero-tolerance strategy, which now has an implementation group. The implementation group published its report recently. We established Cuan, which is the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency taking leadership and accountability in this area. We have very significant evidence from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, Sexual Violence Survey 2022 and we are planning for a second one next year. We have delivered a huge number of awareness campaigns as well.

More importantly, we might look at the legislative change the Government has embarked upon. We have enacted the Family Courts Bill, establishing a dedicated family court to look at very sensitive items for victims. We have introduced an offence for non-fatal strangulation, reflecting the seriousness of the abuse and the stress and harm it causes. The Guardianship of Infants and Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2026 will allow for the removal of guardianship rights from individuals convicted of killing their intimate partner, ensuring stronger protection for children. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 will strengthen the legislation around consent and the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 will restrict the disclosure of counselling records in sexual offence trials and criminalise exploitative practices of sex in lieu of rent. These are key reforms we have embarked upon, as well as the Domestic Violence (Judgments) Register Bill 2026, which will set up a domestic violence register of judgments, ensuring that relevant convictions for serious domestic violence offences are made public as part of the conviction process.

That demonstrates a Government that really treats this issue with the utmost seriousness. More resources need to go into this sector - I absolutely appreciate that - with more support for victims, but the work we are doing demonstrates the Government's commitment to this sector.

The Minister said there should be more resources. Why are there not? There is a budget surplus of €10 billion to €12 billion and the Minister is boasting, or saying, that it is sufficient to give €18 million to Cuan, which is the same as the racehorse industry gets. We have seen that this is a public health emergency. The rape crisis services should not be charities. They should be public services in our health service. Why should people have to go bag packing for a 24-hour helpline or whatever it is? The Too Into You campaign, for example, something I used myself when I was teaching, is funded as part of that €1.3 million. Why is that not being rolled out in every single workplace and school, educating people about toxic relationships? We could prevent femicide happening if we did that. Recently, the topic of counselling notes was a massive issue for survivors of gender violence. The Minister for justice utterly failed to talk to the rape crisis centre about its proposals or to listen to what survivors had to say. It did not reflect very well at all. It was a very upsetting experience for those people. The latest victim of femicide is being victim-blamed for her own death thanks to media outlets that irresponsibly stoke racism. That should be tackled by this Government as well.

I would be careful about comparing such a serious issue with other sectors of the economy that are getting money.

This is a really serious issue that deserves the utmost attention of Government. I have demonstrated through three strategies and through the increase in resources to €80 million under budget 2026 the acceleration of the number of refuges for women and of safe houses. I acknowledge we do not have enough.

It is terrible.

I am being very honest about that but we are we are putting more resources into it. I also pointed out the legislative reform we have seen, critically increasing maximum sentences for assault causing harm to ten years and defending the rights of children who are left behind in very horrific circumstances through femicide or where someone kills their spouse or partner. Those areas are key parts of our reforms. We are demonstrating that we take this very seriously. We want to support women and that is why Cuan was established working together with Government and the CSO to get the data to establish what we can best do over the years ahead. We have an implementation group for that strategy. We want to be there as a compassionate Government to stand by women and to stand by victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.