It is an emotion we all have - falling in love. It is a promise. It is life-affirming, with a possibility of leading to a life partner. It is a wonderful human emotion. It has the promise of finding a sense of home, of trusting somebody, with finding a soul mate - an eye on building a future together where each person has the other's back. Then the insidious gradual picking can start, seemingly innocent, the undermining, leading to the odd slap, and be followed by the express remorse that makes one stay. There is a promise that things will get better. It does not. Little does a person know or even imagine there is a past form of violence perpetrated, overwhelmingly by men, that was brutal and life-threatening and that they were convicted in court - that this man who loves them will destroy them or end their life. We women need to have the opportunity to know this, to be informed and to walk away before it is too late. I wholeheartedly commend Jennie's loving brother, Jason, for his dedication and tenacity pursuing the establishment of this domestic violence register. We also had David French in here a couple of weeks ago as well. Everybody needs brothers like these men. These are men. Unfortunately, we are seeing many family members of victims of intimate partner violence having to shoulder such a heavy burden in pursuit of justice and of suitable preventative measures, so no future families and victims will have to be subjected to such outrageous and upsetting violent acts. We should not limit the scope of this Bill to convictions for physical violence. The offenders' register must include convictions of all types of intimate partner abuse. The original proposed scope of convictions to be included on the register was too narrowly limited to only physical violence. We know there are many other types that are committed in intimate relationships. The Bill now includes murder, manslaughter, rape, sexual assault, assault causing harm, threats to kill or cause serious harm, harassment and danger, false imprisonment and intimate image abuse. What a litany of horror visited on many women. We need to examine the inclusion on the register of financial abuse and coercive control and ensure that the people of Ireland are protected from those convicted of all kinds of abuse. During pre-legislative scrutiny, witnesses testified about the concerns regarding serial perpetrators. Three years is a very short period for a domestic violence offender register. I concur with them and therefore I support Committee Stage amendments Nos. 5, 6 and 7, as submitted by my Sinn Féin colleague, which extend the length of registration to five years. I also support amendment No. 8, which gives the court the flexibility to specify a longer period before an application for removal from the register may apply with regard to the nature and seriousness of the offence and the need to protect the safety and well-being of the victim or any children or dependants. I commend my colleague, Deputy Carthy, who chairs the committee on justice, for his careful stewardship of this Bill. I hope survivors, victims and their families are comforted in some small way by the care shown in the progression of this Bill through the House. This is a sensitive, vitally important piece of legislation and has the potential to affect for the good everyone on our island. Jennie was a young, vibrant woman; a daughter, a mother and a sister who believed she had found a life partner but suffered the heartbreak of knowing that he was not who he seemed to be and he took her life - a murderer. Cuimnigh uirthi.

Sentiment score: -0.01