I also extend a welcome to the chargé d'affaires from Slovenia, a beautiful country that I had the opportunity to visit, and to Councillor Niall Kelleher, his aunt, mum and son Noah, who, I understand, is very interested in politics and very involved in Comhairle na nÓg. I hope they have an interesting and good day in Leinster House.

When driving here this morning, I listened to the news about the Women's Aid annual report. Some of the figures horrified me. Since last year, there has been a 12% increase in contacts and a 17% increase in disclosures. This is the highest figure ever recorded in the 50-year history of Women's Aid. Good work is ongoing within the Government. Only this week, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, published a targeted implementation plan for the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, with 95 different actions across four strands, namely protection, prevention, prosecution and policy. However, increases of 28% in respect of reported physical abuse, 30% in respect of sexual abuse, 15% in respect of emotional abuse and 5% in respect of economic abuse are shocking. I acknowledge that officials across different Departments and, of course, Cuan have been trying to implement upskilling programmes for professionals across health, social care, different services, the Judiciary and An Garda Síochána. However, I am of the view that this matter has gone beyond what the Minister can do. We need a special Oireachtas committee on gender-based violence. I strongly believe that. The special committee on drug use is just starting its work, and we have had special committees in the past in respect of other crisis issues. I would like that message to go forward.

I had the opportunity earlier to go over to Buswells Hotel for the lobbying event hosted by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, ASI. It was great to see old friends like Helen Rochford-Brennan and Kevin Quaid. I always admire the peer advocacy that the ASI promotes. It was a great opportunity to engage with the CEO, Andy Heffernan, and his terrific team. In the context of budget 2026, the ASI's ask is in line with the programme for Government. It is seeking four new one-day dementia-specific daycare centres. Having seen the success of the one in Kildangan, County Kildare, this is an absolute must. The ASI wants to expand capacity at four existing daycare centres and to have eight new advisers. It is really important that these elements are delivered. Ireland has about 65,000 people with dementia. Sadly, the number is growing all the time. Equally, however, the research around how to prevent it is getting better. It is important to acknowledge what the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, has done in terms of his firm commitment to implement the national dementia register. That will be a really big help across the board. I thank all my colleagues who came to the all-party committee meeting last week. I ask everyone for their support in respect of the ASI is seeking in the budget.

To any man who assaults a woman: shame on you. To any man who monitors a woman, controls her moves, where she is, what she is doing, her finances: shame on you. To any man who grabs his partner's phone to look at who she is speaking to: shame on you. To any man who makes a woman feel isolated, hopeless, suicidal, with nowhere to turn, then shame on you. To any man who allows his children to see any of this behaviour, what impact are you having on their lives? Shame on you.

Today, like my colleague, we read in the annual report for Women's Aid that we have recorded the highest level of both contact by victims-survivors and disclosures of domestic abuse in its 50-year history. Behind every woman and child is a family navigating fear and trauma. In Ireland, one in three women will be subjected to psychological, physical and sexual abuse by a partner or ex-partner. Last year, women told Women's Aid that their partners or ex-partners were subjecting them to a broad and brutal pattern of abuse. The impacts on these women were chilling and ranged from exhaustion, isolation, hopelessness and serious injury, with some women suffering miscarriages. In 2024, Women's Aid national and regional front-line services were contacted 32,000 times. What I learned in all of this is that when a woman is brave enough to get out and leave her partner, 33% of them are still being subjected to domestic abuse. Specialist services are still overstretched and underfunded and therefore challenged to meet ever-increasing demand, especially to meet the needs of more marginalised and minoritised women. Resourcing by the Government and implementation of the third national domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy through coherent cross-government co-operation remains crucial to effectively reduce the scale and impacts of violence against women and children in Ireland.

The Minister, Deputy McEntee, did so much groundbreaking work in this area, including the launch of Cuan, the new statutory domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency. I was delighted to see the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, launching the final implementation plan for a zero tolerance strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence yesterday. We need to ensure we hold a cross-Department approach to support these organisations to do their job. I encourage the Leader to discuss this with the relevant Departments. It involves housing, justice, migration and public expenditure, and we badly need it. As my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, said, there needs to be a committee set up to discuss it. To think that we are at an overall 50-year high for domestic abuse in Ireland in 2025 is absolutely disgraceful.