Yesterday, the murderer of Natalie McNally, Stephen McCullagh, was found guilty and the details that emerged during the trial were nothing if not horrific. What Natalie endured in her final hours was very difficult to listen to. She was beaten, strangled and stabbed. I am struck by the mammoth task that lies ahead in Northern Ireland to address the issue of violence against women. Thirty women have been murdered in Northern Ireland since 2020 and that figure represents 88% of the women murdered on this island, so there is a huge problem with violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland. I was struck by the comments of Sonya McMullan of Women's Aid Federation Northern Ireland this morning on "Morning Ireland". She spoke about the problems specifically facing women and girls in Northern Ireland, and particularly about two women who were recently murdered. Amy Doherty, a mother of two, was murdered last Saturday in Derry and Ellie Flanagan was murdered two weeks ago in Enniskillen. These women have been named and their families are in the media spotlight, but they will drift from the media spotlight and the problem will continue.

We need to address the issue of violence against women and girls on an all-island basis. There is a particular problem in Northern Ireland and there are many reasons for that, which have a lot to do with the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland, including the normalisation of violence, the patriarchal patterns of life in Northern Ireland in a post-conflict society, the patriarchy and toxic masculinity.

There is also the influence of paramilitaries in violence against women and girls, and the intimidation, threatening behaviour, trafficking and the running of brothels that are undertaken by people who were involved in paramilitary activity. We need to address this as a society. There are also particular issues in Northern Ireland in relation to the courts and access to legal aid.

We all need to engage on this. The conversation needs to be happening here - on this side of the Border - as well. We need to address the matter on an all-island basis. We need to discuss the reasons behind violence against women and how to find solutions. We must include boys and young men in the conversation, because we will not address it until we deal with the root causes in communities. We must improve awareness, education and training, particularly with regard to relationship and sexual education. Learning about healthy relationships is key. We must show our young people that relationships are built on trust, equality and respect. Unfortunately, many young people are growing up in homes where they do not have healthy relationships modelled to them. We need to look at that and understand it. One in three women faces domestic violence and domestic abuse. Their children are witnessing that. We need to break that cycle. We need to have conversations around consent, coercive control and red flags in relationships. As I said, we need to address this on an all-island basis as we move towards a new Ireland.