Before I talk about the legislation, I want to put it in context. As the Minister knows, there is an epidemic of violence against women and girls in this State. Most recently, we saw the murder of two women, Jamey Carney in Kerry and Adina Raluca Constantin in Laois. I extend my condolences to their families and loves ones. The suspect in their murders is their partner or former partner. Women's Aid has published some very startling figures. Since 1996, 286 women have died violently in this State. Some 63% of them were killed in their own homes, 55% were killed by a partner or ex-partner and nine out of ten knew their killers. Your home should be a safe place. Unfortunately, it is not a safe place for many women. This is a huge problem. That is only talking about deaths; there are countless other women experiencing domestic violence and abuse in their own homes. Domestic violence refuges need more funding. We need accommodation in every county. Another report I saw shows that over a six-month period, nearly 1,900 women were turned away from services because they were oversubscribed. I know women who could not find a safe place and had to return to unsafe and potentially deadly home environments. This legislation will introduce a register to apply to individuals convicted of domestic violence against a partner or former partner. The register will be publicly accessible. Inclusion on the register requires victim consent before publication. As was said already, safeguards are definitely needed in relation to this aspect to make sure there is no coercion or anything like that. This is an important step to protect women form potentially violent partners. I am on the justice committee. We recommended that this legislation be named in honour of Jennifer Poole, who was murdered in 2021 by her ex-partner, Gavin Murphy. It was only after Jennifer was killed that her family became aware of Murphy's history of domestic violence. I commend Jennifer's family, in particular her brother Jason, who I welcome to the Gallery. He has led the call for the introduction of this register.

Sentiment score: -0.18