Irish Examiner view: Ireland may be waking up to the incalculable harm of gender-based violence

Two news stories on Tuesday — about a meeting in Dublin, and the sentencing of a serial rapist — suggest we could be ready to address the misogyny baked into Irish institutions

The life sentence imposed on a man who inflicted '25 years of hell' on his wife marks a significant moment. Picture: iStock

Marital rape has been a crime in Ireland for little more than three decades, so this week’s life sentence imposed on a man who inflicted “25 years of hell” on his wife marks a very significant moment.

More significant still was the fact that Ms Justice Melanie Greally said the court recognised the immensity of the woman’s suffering and the vast damage that her husband “wilfully and sadistically” caused to her.