What I have in my hand is the new Women's Aid report. It is fairly stark reading. I did not have a stapler big enough to staple it together. It is 160 pages long. This is just for 2025 and things are getting so much worse. I am calling for an urgent debate on domestic abuse and what we can do. This report is really frightening. It is the lived reality of women and children in Ireland today, but what is more frightening than what is in the report is that these are just the disclosed cases. We know that the statistics are much worse. Many more women do not feel safe to come forward or get to this stage.

Women's Aid's front-line services were contacted 37,790 times, the highest number ever recorded. A total of 62,275 closures of abuse against women and children were made. Women disclosed being assaulted, raped, stalked, strangled, inappropriately monitored, humiliated, controlled and terrorised. They disclosed financial abuse, coercive control, threats to kill, threats to take their children and abuse that continued even after relationships had ended. There were 1,321 threats to kill, 512 disclosures of non-fatal strangulation, 906 disclosures of stalking, 381 disclosures of rape and 1,500 disclosures of abuse during pregnancy or after giving birth. Women in Ireland in 2026 are being terrorised in their own homes by men who are supposed to love them. Children are growing up in homes where fear is normal, control is constant and safety does not exist.

I am asking for an urgent debate on violence against women because we cannot continue to treat this like a side issue. This is a national emergency. I say "national" because this is across the island of Ireland. Although this report is just for the Twenty-six Counties, this is an all-Ireland problem and we need an all-Ireland approach.

In that context, I welcome the important progress made yesterday by my colleague, Deputy Matt Carthy, when his Victims of Sexual Violence Civil Protection Orders Bill passed Committee Stage. This is important legislation because it will allow courts at the time of sentencing to put protection orders against abusers in place that remain in force after the sentence ends. A prison sentence does not automatically mean safety for these women. Survivors deserve protection that does not stop at the prison gate. They deserve not to live in fear of when their abusers will be released. I commend Deputy Carthy on driving his legislation forward. I also acknowledge the incredible women, survivors and campaigners, who have helped bring it to this point.

Their courage, advocacy and refusal to stay silent has pushed this onto the agenda.