Irish Examiner view: Minister will be held to pledge on zero tolerance strategy

Five-year plan commits that anyone who needs a space, bed, accommodation or safe refuge will get one

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee at the publication of the Zero Tolerance strategy. Picture: Maxwells

It is a sobering thought that the zero tolerance strategy to tackle domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence requires 144 actions to bring it up to an industrial strength solution to a problem which has increased in visibility since the pandemic.

The strategy, whose details have been trailed in advance, falls under the aegis of Justice Minister Helen McEntee and is described as the “most ambitious” plan in the history of the State. It will be backed by a new statutory agency with “real teeth, timelines, and funding”, which aims to be fully operational by January 1, 2024.