There have been two femicides this week in Ireland, a femicide being the killing of a woman because she is a woman. The femicide count in this country has officially surpassed the total of last year and it is only July. We send our solidarity to the loved ones of Adina Constantin and Jamey Carney. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that figures on violence against women are going in the wrong direction, but what has the Government actually done about them? The most basic thing the Government could do is properly fund the organisations that deal with violence against women. Instead, they are charities. These charities have seen rocketing calls. Women's Aid saw an 11.5% rise last year. There were 62,275 disclosures. It got €1.3 million from the Government. It had to raise €2.7 million in donations. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, DRCC, had the highest number of calls since its foundation. It got €3.3 million and had to fundraise €1.8 million itself. Does that really strike the Minister as taking gender-based violence seriously when people have to rely on 5 km runs and bag packs to function? If we compare this with the hospitality VAT cut of €680 million or the €25 million for the greyhound industry, it speaks volumes. The UN has said about gender-related killings, "Initiatives that focus on ... prevention, changing social norms, and engaging whole communities to create zero tolerance for violence against women, work best". This society has a very high tolerance for violence against women: rape allegations against multiple footballers playing in the World Cup, and they play on; the US ambassador going to Conor McGregor's pub, somebody found liable in a civil case for rape; the Taoiseach honouring Trump, a predator, and not listening to survivors when they ask about legislative change. When is the Minister going to tackle the violent misogyny being spread by Internet companies? The rise in violent misogyny has run parallel to the rise in the statistics for violence against women. Will the Government contact mainstream media outlets that yesterday irresponsibly stoked up the flames of racism by reporting that an asylum seeker was being sought for the murder? The common denominator in violence against women is men, not a nationality. Since Women's Aid has been tracking femicide, it has found that 88% of women were killed by somebody known to them. That includes sons and grandsons. There is a figure from the UK - a mother is more likely to be killed by her own son than by a stranger. Violence against women rocketed during Covid. Why? Because women were stuck in their own homes with their own partners. That disputes any notion that this is anything to do with strangers, asylum seekers or whatever. It became known as a shadow pandemic. What is this Government doing about the pandemic of gender-based violence? It does not strike me that it is treating it as the public health emergency that it is.

Sentiment score: -0.31

The Minister said there should be more resources. Why are there not? There is a budget surplus of €10 billion to €12 billion and the Minister is boasting, or saying, that it is sufficient to give €18 million to Cuan, which is the same as the racehorse industry gets. We have seen that this is a public health emergency. The rape crisis services should not be charities. They should be public services in our health service. Why should people have to go bag packing for a 24-hour helpline or whatever it is? The Too Into You campaign, for example, something I used myself when I was teaching, is funded as part of that €1.3 million. Why is that not being rolled out in every single workplace and school, educating people about toxic relationships? We could prevent femicide happening if we did that. Recently, the topic of counselling notes was a massive issue for survivors of gender violence. The Minister for justice utterly failed to talk to the rape crisis centre about its proposals or to listen to what survivors had to say. It did not reflect very well at all. It was a very upsetting experience for those people. The latest victim of femicide is being victim-blamed for her own death thanks to media outlets that irresponsibly stoke racism. That should be tackled by this Government as well.

Sentiment score: -0.25

It is terrible.

Sentiment score: -0.48