 Well, good morning to everybody and you're very very welcome here to the Institute. My name is Nora Owen and I chair the Justice and Home Affairs Committee here in the Institute. It may be a first visit for some of you and if it is I hope you enjoy it and I hope you'll come back to us. If you've been here before you know the kind of format. Just before I start I want to just pay tribute to Rory Quinn who last night stepped down as chair of the Institute here after five years was it Rory five years. And we are really really grateful to Rory how he kept the Institute alive and going during particularly during the covert it would be so easy for this Institute to have kind of faded down and for members and for people who are interested in the work we do here to kind of have lost interest and maybe moved on to something else playing darts or bridge or something else. But Rory as chair just kept it going and and he told us last night that over 1900 people had tuned in in the last year from I think was it 40 countries. And they had listened to the debates and the presentations from this Institute so it is a widely widely respected Institute throughout the world were not just here in Ireland so Rory thank you very much for all you did and so pleased that you're able to be here this morning. And I have to finish by saying that Rory wore the most stunning pale pink jacket last night. And, but Rory always had style his big style in the doll was ties is not right was always ties and you always knew what humor Rory was in when you spotted his tie. So welcome again to all of you. And we are very pleased today to have a minister Helen Mackenzie with us so just let me do a little bit of housekeeping. Thank you for you. Minister Mackenzie will talk for about 15 or so minutes and for those of you in the room. Please raise your hand if you'd like to ask a question. And, and a colleague will bring a microphone to you for those of you welcome you all who are on the hybrid I can't see your faces but I know you're there. You're very welcome indeed and if you want to send in a question, you can send it in I've been given a tablet I gather I can pick up the questions on the tablet. Let me just tell you a quick story I did a monitoring exercise for Intel several years back, and it was when they were at the top of the range you know in the computers and everything. And I sat down I had I had the head of PayPal I had the head of, of Intel from America really hyper and they handed me one of these things. Now it was very early on. I believe it wouldn't work. And the whole thing collapsed and I had to just look at people's hands raised in the audience. So it showed even the best places. And within Intel, they didn't get it to work but I've been told by Sarah it will work and I just have to look at it so if it doesn't work I'll be, I'll be asking people to make the make their questions out loud. Today's presentation and the Q&A are both on the record and you will be able to join in on Twitter using the handle at IEA. Now Helen McIntyre you will all know but just let me give you a little bit of a CV. She's currently the Minister for Justice appointed to the role in June of 2020. She was first elected to the door in a by election in March 2013 re-elected in February 2016 and appointed by Tisha Kendra Kennedy to the Mental Health and Older People Ministry at the Department of Health. In June 2017 as part of the government reshuffle, she was appointed by the new newly appointed Tisha to the position of Minister of State for EU Affairs and we watched with great pride, the way Helen took hold of that ministry. And really a lot of times was the lead minister with regard to European affairs because very often the minister for foreign affairs might have to lead but Helen was really cut her teeth there and European affairs and that right Helen. Today Minister McIntyre is going to outline her work in the domestic sexual and gender based violence document and the putting in place of integrated preventive measures. As a key priority for the EU and the Council of Europe, the minister is going to discuss the combatting domestic sexual and gender based violence. In the context of Ireland's presidency of the Council of Europe and examine the role played by Ireland in tackling this minister. This is not a new issue for all of us. When I was Minister, domestic violence, sexual and gender based violence were very much on the agenda, but we've been slow enough as a country to really get to grips and set up the structures that can save people from this and set up the laws. I mean the minister's document as she will explain to us contains what they call the four P's. Now Rory will remember that when we were going to university, Rory is younger than me, but when we were going to university, there was a dance hall called the four P's. Does anybody remember Tony Brown might remember the four P's and it was this the special place I think was the engineers dance, but the four P's we're talking about here are protection, prevention protection, prosecution and policy coordination. And I hope Minister, you might elaborate a little bit on that and explain to us how the new document that you have produced is I hope going to help people both save them from domestic violence and gender based violence, but also make available more facilities for people who do sadly have to leave and seek refuge. So Minister, I'll let you off now and then we will take questions after. That's all right, I will sit but thank you so much, Lauren. It's an absolute pleasure to be sharing the stage with you as always. And just to acknowledge your contribution, I think to public life and continued contribution to public life. I think it's very much appreciated by all of us. I thank David and all the team here for their welcome to the IEA. It's a while since I've been here, unfortunately between COVID-19, but as Nora's mentioned, it was a place I attended regularly as Minister from European Affairs, not just discussing how COVID-19 exists, which is still ongoing and hasn't gone away, I suppose, but also the future of Europe and our role in it. I also want to acknowledge Rory Quinn and his contribution. I'm sorry, I missed the pink coat last night. But just to thank you for your contribution here and also in public life and in general, again, I think it's very much appreciated. But good morning to everyone and indeed to those who are joining us online. This is an issue that I really have prioritised since coming into the Department of Justice. It's 2022 and the major obstacle to equality, not just in Ireland across Europe, but internationally is violence against women and girls. And it's very hard to say that it sounds incredible, but that is the biggest challenge that we face when it comes to equality. And it is a sad reality. So that is why I've prioritised it. That's why it is such a priority for my colleagues across Europe. And that's why it needs to continue to be a priority. Last month I welcomed Justice Ministers from across Europe to a conference that we held in the RDS to advance what I see as not just a nice thing to do or a must have. This is an obligation and it's an obligation on each and every one of us as ministers in government, as public representatives, but each and every one of us in this room, we all have an obligation to combat domestic violence. As you're all aware, obviously, Ireland assumes the presidency of the Council of Europe in May. And we really made a conscious decision to prioritise this issue. So it's no coincidence that the sole ministerial meeting that we held across that time period was a meeting on domestic sexual and gender-based violence. And I think the meeting itself was an equal parts uplifting, but also challenging given the scale of the challenge that we face. We know that gender-based violence and violations are one of the most serious forms of human rights abuses. And if you look at different research taken place right across Europe, the Fundamental Rights Agency on prevalence of violence against women has some very stark facts. So one in three women in Europe experienced some form of physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. One in 20 women have been raped and two in five women have experienced some form of psychological abuse, be it from a current or a former partner. So, you know, this is commonplace right across all of our societies. And of course, that means it's commonplace here in Ireland, and particularly with COVID-19. I think it's come to the fore, but it's also exacerbated the problem as well, where many of us were home safe in our homes. Other people, it was actually a terrifying place to be and only made the situation worse. We had a recent report from a Gardeshia conna, which again showed some very, for many people, startling facts. It showed that domestic abuse was a factor in the majority of murders and manslaughter last year. In fact, for the first time, there were more murders in a domestic space than there were that we would consider maybe gangland or other types of murders. So while these are stark and disturbing figures, they're not really surprising, I think. And we've always known, for example, that domestic abuse is something that primarily affects women. It's not always the case, but it is in the vast majority of cases. And the offender is male in the majority of cases where the victim is female again. It's not always, but in the vast majority of cases it is. We also know that, for example, where a woman or a female is a victim, there was close links between domestic abuse and other types of abuse. So sexual assault and rape as well. So I think we knew these facts, but we now have them very clearly, whether it's in the Garda report, whether it's the Fundamental Rights Agency, or whether it's just the figures that we see of people reporting these crimes now. It is our job, and I mean all of our jobs, to respond and to work to change this. We have to stop accepting these stark figures. And yes, there are always issues that will arise, different challenges in the Department of Justice, other areas of crime. But I think for too long, we have just accepted these figures as the norm. And as Nora has said, this has been around since people were around. This has always been a problem and an issue, but it's only in recent years that we have really stood up and said, well, actually, we shouldn't be tolerating this simply because it happens behind closed doors in a family or domestic situation. So we need to change our attitudes above all, as well as laws, as well as structures, as well as resources and supports. We need to change attitudes in our own homes, in our workplaces, on WhatsApp groups, online, and all of the ways in which this can culminate to make sure that these are addressed at a local level, at a national level, and obviously at a European and an international level. And so in order to do that, Nora, as mentioned, the Zero Tolerance Strategy, which was launched this year. It is a very ambitious programme. It's a strategy for the next five years, but it has very much built on the previous two strategies and the work by former colleagues in this department. So Nora, obviously, and I might touch on some of the work that she has done on this in a few moments, but also my colleague Francis Fitzgerald, David Stanton, and many, many others who have really developed and evolved our laws and our supports, but it has built on that. And I think most importantly with this strategy, what was really important to me and others is that it was developed with the sector itself. The people who are at the front line, the people with the cold face of this, with victims, with survivors, that it's targeted, that it's comprehensive, that it's effective in achieving all of the goals that we've set out and based on the core key pillars. So the prevention, the protection, prosecution and policy coordination. So these are very important pillars of the overall strategy and we've really tried to keep within those four, four pillars. Zero Tolerance, I think people have asked me since then, what does that mean? Are we going for Rudy Giuliani tough on crime? You know, but what exactly are we talking about here? And for me, Zero Tolerance, it means so many different things, but it is a bar we've set, which might seem unattainable because you would say, well, we'll never get to a situation where there was no domestic or sexual violence. But I think setting a bar, anything lower than that really, it for me is not enough. So we have to set the highest bar possible, that there is zero tolerance for any kind of physical or sexual abuse of women and girls, but indeed in general, of any individual. It means making sure we have strategies that are focused on prevention, which really hasn't been as much of a priority today. Making sure that we have specific roles for men and boys when we talk about prevention as well, which was a key focus of the Council of Europe discussion we had only a few weeks ago. It means greater education and awareness more generally, not just in the justice sector or across government, but for each and every one of us. It means teaching younger children about respect, about equality, about false healthy relationships, our sexuality from an early age, but obviously doing it in a way that's age appropriate. The idea that children are shielded from this simply nonsense, we have to acknowledge that, but we have to work and engage with children in a way that's appropriate and that supports them and helps them. It means looking at longer term systemic approaches to awareness raising campaigns so building on the hugely successful campaigns we've had for COVID-19 still here, with many others as well making sure that we're focused on the digital sphere as well because so much of this kind of abuse is happening online. And the more obviously we move online that the more opportunity there is for this kind of abuse. It means supporting victims when they come forward, and that's one of the biggest challenges I'm pleased to see. I say I'm pleased to see because some people would see it as a negative that we've seen an increase in the reporting of this type of crime I see that as a positive that people are coming forward that they have confidence in the system. But we need to make sure that they're not let down when they do come forward. So supporting the Guardian making sure the court structures and systems are in place and making sure that there's justice at the end of the day for what has happened to them. It means effective training. So following on from that foreign guard the sheikana for our legal profession for the judiciary for those in the health professionals who are engaging making sure that those who answered the calls in our 999 centres that all of these people understand and know how to respond and to support victims when they come forward. So I think making sure as I've said when they come forward the supports are there. And one of the big elements of the assemble convention is making sure there was enough refuge and supports and services for people who have to flee their homes. Our objective is to double the amount of refugee accommodation we have in the lifetime of this strategy, but build on that because we know it's not going to get us to the point where we have enough so we need to make sure that we put the right structures and the resources in place to the works and mortar but that the supports and services around the refuge and the accommodation is there. The plan itself while it's a five year plan our first implementation plan is until the end of next year so it's about a year and a half and it'll be a subsequent yearly plan. There's about 144 detailed actions in this first section alone. I won't name them all out or I'll be here all day but maybe just to give you a little bit of a glimpse of some of the work so it will continue the supporting victims journey which was a plan I launched two years ago solely focused on the criminal justice system and how we can improve it for victims who come forward. There's quite a number of actions and that everything from introducing preliminary trial hearings which we've already done focusing on training in different spheres various different ways and you know everything from having screens in courtrooms so that victims don't have to look at their accusers. All of this is work in progress but has now fed into this overall strategy. So updating the secondary school and the junior school curricula so that you include course of control domestic violence consent, safe use of the internet. That has started already a minister foley has started the process for the, the senior cycle and the junior cycle will follow and then the primary school after that. It's removing legal barriers that prevent people from remaining in their home. So unfortunately we need refuge and accommodation because it is a victim that has to leave their home. It is wrong. It shouldn't be the case. And I know that this has been looked at before but I think we need to find a way to get over this hurdle, because it should never be the victim that has to leave home. The domestic violence leave something my colleague minister Gorman has been working on and is introducing now this year in past legislation I think it's something very welcome beginning engagement with the judiciary to potentially introduce specific judges to deal with domestic sexual and gender based violence in the same way we're now doing for our family courts and then leading into that the enactment of the family court bill and the strategy to complement that which will be published in the coming weeks. So really, this is a whole of government strategy. It's not just my department. It's not just justice agencies. It's everybody involved. And the fact that every single department minister, including the department from Tisha has bought into this and is actively progressing these actions and pursuing these actions. I think that is really, really important. And my own part from a criminal justice perspective, making sure that the system is there to support victims is really important but also at the end of the days if there is justice. And so we're introducing in the coming weeks, new laws around stalking new laws around non fatal strangulation to make them stand alone offenses. And we're also increasing sentencing for the maximum sentence for assault causing harm which is the most common criminal offense associated with domestic violence at the moment. If you were to break into someone's home and damage their property, or if you were to damage someone's property full stock, you could face up to 10 years in prison, whereas we had a particular case. It's something that hits me pretty hard at the moment where a person, a man boiled sugar and water and threw it over his four month pregnant girlfriend. And because of the fact that the maximum sentence is five years guilty pleas, recoveries, everything else that has to be taken into account. I think the sentence was maybe less than two years, not acceptable. It doesn't encourage anybody to come forward. And so we will be increasing the maximum sentence from five to 10 years, giving the judiciary more flexibility to be able to respond to these serious type of crimes. But moving back I suppose and the, the protection piece and the prosecution piece is really important but to come back to the issue of prevention. I think while we can do as much as we possibly can to support victims when they come forward, we really need to be focusing on stopping it happening in the first instance and I don't think we'll ever get to a situation where we can say domestic violence has been completely eradicated, but we can certainly do our best to prevent it and to minimize it as much as possible and that really does require changing hearts, minds, attitudes, right across society. And as I said, taking it away as this issue that happens behind closed doors in the family and not something that any of us should have anything to do with it's much bigger than that. So there were a number of strands to that piece I've mentioned the education already in our schools, but more broadly it's about awareness raising campaigns, looking at prevention consent. We've had campaigns on intimate image abuse, public awareness campaigns and victims rights, making sure that victims know what their rights are. And I think all of this means that we're building a solid foundation and we're building on what has been a solid foundation of what has gone before us. And on that and I mentioned earlier just to acknowledge RMC and the chair of your Justice Group here Nora Owen. Nora was Minister for Justice at a time when it's now I think recognized as a major milestone in our fight against domestic sexual and gender based violence in this country because we enacted the Domestic Violence Act of 1996, so the first task force on violence against women and the next strategy and so much of what has followed since then was based on that really important act, but also that strategy as well. And there's no question that the work that we're doing now is only possible because of that work that was done before and I really want to acknowledge that and thank Nora for that. But also so much of the work that we're doing has come about because of changes only recently at a European level so for example the Kansas of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence which is obviously known as the Istanbul Convention. It is the most far reaching instrument that we have to combat domestic violence and to deal with domestic violence as well as ensuring that we have protection for victims and to bring perpetrators to justice. It has had such a positive impact I think not just in our own country but in other jurisdictions where they have where they have ratified us and those even that haven't ratified us, they're obviously making significant changes in progress. I'm aware that it's been somewhat politicized. And I think for some, it's been seen mistakenly as an attack on the family, the family unit and a certain way of life. But I think we have to be honest for others, they are intentionally trying to misinterpret what it says they are intentionally translating it in a different way to sow division and to sow seeds of hate and and I think we need to push back on that because for me. This is a practical tool box of measures of guidance to deal with one issue alone and that is violence against women and girls abuse against women and girls. So we need to push back on any suggestion that it is anything other than that. As I've said I think countries have benefited from it and I'm really pleased to see only in the last few weeks and months that the UK has ratified that Moldova has ratified the Istanbul Convention and more recently Ukraine has also ratified the Istanbul Convention. So it's important that we work together collectively to make sure that we use our own experiences, our own insights from our friends and colleagues right across Europe in relation to interventions and there's so much we can learn from each other in the day that we start thinking that we can't learn from each other is the day we stop making progress. The collaborative approach really was at the forefront of the the ministerial event that we hosted in the or DS only a few weeks ago that I hosted and the title was no safe haven integrated prevention measures to end domestic sexual and gender based violence. And I suppose it's not a coincidence because as I've said a number of times prevention is absolutely key in this area. I was really delighted that the Dublin declaration that we put together and work through with our colleagues in the council. And right across the individual member states of the 46 and attendance 38 signed up. I'm still working to get get a few more if we can but I think what was really positive was that those who haven't signed up yet that they are making progress and obviously the the response from them in the various different sessions was very positive and the work that they are doing so I think there were a number of hurdles but at the same time to have 38 countries sign up I think it showed a real commitment in this area. There were some elements of the conference were challenging but I think it was also very uplifting conference for those very reasons, we shared our experience, our knowledge, our understanding I have certainly learned a lot from other countries and will be taking so much from that conference to add to what we're already doing. And, but I think what's important as well as that's not just locally in our own member states but that we can use that declaration to build on the work of the council and the support measures the European Commission, and make sure that it feeds into and keeps this top of the priorities and top of the agenda. We had a European Commission proposal recently which identified gaps in protection and support measures relating to violence against women, and I was really pleased to secure approval of both houses in the Iraq to get that across the line of to make sure that we opted into it before it was adopted which obviously is a necessary step under a protocol 21, and I hope it shows a clear commitment and dedication on our part to not just doing this work at home but to working collaboratively with colleagues, and what was really a detailed and comprehensive measure I'm pleased to say a lot of what was in it we're actually doing. We've already done, and I think that shows that we can be leaders in this space, and we can certainly work with colleagues to make sure that they are learning from what we are doing and as I said vice versa it's collaboration right across the society is the only way that we are going to be able to deal with this, because it is an obligation, and I was stressed, but I said at the outset it's 2022. A major obstacle to achieving equality in Ireland in Europe internationally is violence against girls. And we really need to change that there is absolutely no alternative here. And so I really do look forward to working constructively with all my colleagues in government with our partners in Strasbourg the Council Europe with their EU partners in Brussels and to try and keep spotlight on this I know one of the issues here at the IEA is to identify key European trends and priorities and obviously to help then inform the work that's been done here in Ireland. This is a priority priority for us here in Ireland but also at a European level so I look forward to continuing working with you and supporting you and obviously asking for your support in keeping this issue at the top of the agenda, and making sure that we make real progress so I'll finish just on this note I suppose to to reflect and remind everyone we all have a will to play in this we all have a part, be it at home be it in our everyday lives to try and deal with this issue, but zero tolerance, there is no other option here and I'm just, I thank you for your time and thank you for your attendance today. Thank you.