Minister: 'Men must stop beating the bejesus out of their partners'
Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill began reading the names of women killed violently in Ireland into the Dáil record each month since the murder of Ashling Murphy in 2022. File picture
Men simply must “stop beating the bejesus” out of their partners, as law and campaigns can only go so far, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said.
Her comment comes amid startling statistics that show more women have died in violent circumstances so far this year than in all of 2025.
“Don’t force sex on your partner, don’t beat your partner — it’s how to be a man 101. The plainer that we can say that, the better,” Ms Carroll MacNeill told the , adding that laws and supports are invariably limited in addressing the problem. She added:
The murder of US-born mother of one Jamey Carney in Killarney last week brings the number of women who have died violently so far this year to eight, one more than the entirety of last year. International police forces are now searching for Ms Carney’s boyfriend, 28-year-old Ahmad Al-Saqar, to question him in connection with her killing.
Meanwhile, legislation to establish a publicly accessible register of individuals convicted of serious domestic violence offences is due to pass through the Oireachtas this week to be sent on to the President to sign into law.
Jennie’s Law (the Domestic Violence Judgments Register Bill), which has been named in honour of Jennifer Poole who was murdered by her ex-partner in 2021, will see the names of those convicted published on the Courts Service website, with survivors required to provide consent before the convicted person can be named.
However, citing other laws in relation to stalking and non-fatal strangulation, Ms Carroll MacNeill said politicians, gardaí, the HSE, and other bodies have a role to play in protecting women, but the issue of gender-based violence will always remain until the attitude of men changes.
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“All of those other things are important and, yes, we’re always going to need to change and update legislation.
"But it’s not about gardaí on the street. It’s the violence that’s perpetrated, intimate partner violence.”
In the wake of the murder of Ashling Murphy in 2022, Ms Carroll MacNeill began reading the names of women who have been violently killed in Ireland into the Dáil record each month to draw attention to domestic and gender-based violence.
Since then, 40 women have died violently in Ireland.
“Nothing has changed because men continue to hit and kill their partners; that’s the stark reality of all this,” Ms MacNeill said.
“We can have all the education that we like in relationship and sex education; We can have all of the different penalties; We can have all of the different prison spaces — but at some point we stop becoming responsible:
"So many of the women whose names I read out in the Dáil were killed ultimately by their intimate partners or their ex-intimate partners, and that is the real danger to women who are so much more vulnerable in their beds than they are walking in any street in Ireland. It's not right."
She suggested that the "toxic manosphere" and other "explanatory factors" are sometimes given, when in reality there is no excuse for gender-based violence.
"The idea that anybody in a relationship thinks that they can raise their fist, raise the palm of their hand, or rape or assault their partner needs a serious reality check.
"The difficulty for women is that these instances of violence, sometimes in a manipulative or coercive relationship, get let go.
"Women feel that they can't talk to people about it because they don't want to upset them; maybe they feel that they won't be believed.
"And so they absorb it, and they keep going, and they hope that something will be different.
"They hope that won't happen again. The reality is it does happen again, and that's the cycle that we see."
Returning the person of interest in the murder of Ms Carney to Ireland could be a lengthy process, even if he is located, according to law enforcement sources.
Mr Al-Saqar fled from Ireland last Tuesday morning before 43-year-old Ms Carney was found dead in her bed in her home on Muckross Rd, Killarney.
Mr Al-Saqar took a flight to Turkey, and there is concern he may have returned to his native Jordan or travelled to other nearby countries such as Syria.
A file on Jamey Carney’s death is expected to be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions to establish if any charges will be directed against Mr Al-Saqar, who came to Ireland to seek international protection in 2024.
It is understood that efforts will be made to have the file submitted as quickly as possible, in the event that the whereabouts of Mr Al-Saqar are located.
It is thought that efforts to bring him back to Ireland would be boosted if a direction to charge him in relation to the murder was made by the DPP. In such a scenario, a warrant could then be issued for his arrest.
However, a source acknowledged: “There is a process to be followed and it will be lengthy.”
They pointed to the time it has taken to extradite members of the Kinahan gang.
Gang boss Daniel Kinahan remains in Dubai following his arrest in Dubai last April for the purpose of extradition to Ireland. It took seven months to extradite Kinahan associate Sean McGovern back to Ireland after his arrest in Dubai in October 2024.
The use of diplomatic measures, including a mutual assistance agreement, are thought to be the best chance Irish authorities have in bringing Mr Al-Saqar back to Ireland as part of the probe into Jamey Carney’s death.
However, given the variations between Irish law and the laws in countries such as Jordan and Syria, there is concern that a mutual assistance agreement may not be a useful instrument.
Under the legislation covering mutual assistance agreements, a request to a country for mutual assistance on a case must relate only to an act that is criminal in both Ireland and the other country.
Given that Mr Al-Saqar is now believed to be in Turkey, Jordan, or some part of Asia, Interpol has replaced Europol as the lead in the international manhunt.
American police have also been approached by gardaí in their efforts to locate him.
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