Domestic violence - Strategy for women just a vote stunt

THERE’S a cynical whiff of electioneering about the timing of today’s release of the Government’s long-awaited report on a national strategy for women.

In a transparent bid to silence an increasingly vocal women’s lobby barely six weeks before the General Election, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will announce the setting up of an office to coordinate inter-departmental responses to domestic violence.

Having dragged its feet for 10 years since the report of the task force on violence against women, the Government’s belated initiative bears all the hallmarks of a vote-buying stunt.