Government will not oppose Sinn Féin's domestic violence bill

The bill is scheduled to coincide with the final day of the '16 Days of Action' campaign.

The Government will not oppose Sinn Féin's Private Member's Bill which would give 10 days' annual leave to victims of domestic violence.

The party will use its Private Members' time to bring forward the Organisation of Working Time (Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2019 which was first published last December.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald and Louise O'Reilly have drafted the bill and have scheduled it to coincide with the final day of the '16 Days of Action' campaign to help shine a light on this issue and to try and build cross-party support for the legislation.

The Cabinet agreed this morning to a memo from Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman that the Department for Children would undertake an examination and consultation on paid leave for victims of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence. 

Day 14 of the 16 Days of Action 2020 Campaign with Women's Aid
The focus of this year’s Women’s Aid campaign is:Intimate relationship abuse, including online abuse, against young people (18-25 ) @NCCWN will be posting daily across all social media platforms #NCCWN pic.twitter.com/FILkzEYexQ

— Women's Collective Ireland (@WCI_irl) December 8, 2020

A consultation with NGOs, social partners, and victims will be undertaken as well as examining how such systems work in other countries. 

Sources say that this is in line with the Programme for Government commitment and that within four months of the consultation being completed, Mr O'Gorman will bring forward legislative proposals for a statutory entitlement to paid leave for victims of domestic abuse.

Ms McDonald said the bill is needed to recognise the impact that domestic violence has on the totality of a person's life.

Domestic violence cases have spiked during the pandemic, according to a number of reports from different agencies and charities. 

According to a Safe Ireland report from last month, around 3,450 women and 589 children contacted a domestic violence service for the first time seeking support and safety from abuse and coercive control during the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic.