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.

Since lockdown, the need has been identified to focus more closely on the experiences of children living with violence in the home. Cases referred to helplines and courts have soared.

On the day that sentencing was handed down in the Ghislaine Maxwell case in New York, the maximum sentence for assault in Ireland is to be doubled as part of the Government’s €363m five-year strategy.

This will also emphasise education from an early age on issues such as consent, healthy sexual relationships, and domestic violence, to be covered in an age-appropriate manner from primary school through to third level.

New training for healthcare and other frontline workers is to be developed by the HSE to identify domestic violence and refer victims to relevant support services.

It remains a disappointment that Ireland is providing less than 30% of the refuge places recommended under the Istanbul Convention and that the minimum figure, requiring 340 extra places, will not be reached within the lifetime of this plan. 

However, Ms McEntee said: “It is my commitment that anyone who needs a space or a bed or accommodation or safe refuge will get that.” 

Given that 62% of requests for refuge were turned down last year, this is an important pledge.

The justice minister will be held to it.