State enthusiasm for reforming women’s services has petered out

THE Fianna Fáil/Pegressive Democrat coalition has presided over many a fiasco, but its treatment of victims of sexual assault and violence is particularly shameful.

Since coming into power in 1997, its has left a trail of broken promises and stagnant policy initiatives.

Weeks before the 27th Dáil fell in 1997, Labour Party Minister of State Eithne Fitzgerald published the ambitious report of the Task Force on Violence Against Women. At the time she spoke of an abounding appetite for change.