THE COLLAPSE OF the Northern Ireland institutions will impact on the passing of legislation to address gender-based violence, according to former Justice Minister for Northern Ireland Naomi Long.

Speaking at a Shared Island Dialogue event on tackling gender-based violence and abuse on the island of Ireland, which was also attended by Justice Minister Helen McEntee in Meath today, Long said the Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy for Northern Ireland cannot be finalised without a functioning Northern Ireland Executive.

On the real-life impacts that the stalemate is causing, Long added that north-south cooperation is harder in the absence of ministers in each jurisdiction to be able to give a strong lead to their departments.

“Without a budget and without financial certainty, it is hard for us to commit to new projects across all areas,” she said.

While she said she managed to get five important bills through over a two and half year period, the north was “playing catch up” due to the Institutions not being up and running previously.

‘Playing catch up’

She said such delays in getting important legislation through on issues such as domestic violence, results in added pressure on the courts services and the police. Long said she would hate to be playing catch up yet again on legislation, adding that she is “very conscious we are falling behind”.

Long said there needs to be a zero tolerance approach to abuse, misogyny and the entitlement culture that exists from the locker rooms to the corridors of power in the Republic and Northern Ireland.

There is a need to improve sex education standards in schools, and to address attitudes where gender-based violence and sexual abuse can flourish, she added.

“There is an urgency in this. A whole generation of young women are growing up forming relationships, and having sexual experiences, in a context where one in four will experience domestic abuse,” Long added.

“We owe to them, we owe to ourselves to deliver not just better law and policy but a sea change in how women are treated on this island.

“We have to have a zero tolerance approach to abuse, to misogyny, harassment, the entitlement culture that exists in many places that still pervades not just the locker rooms of Ireland, but also the corridors of power on occasion.

“I believe that together we can deliver that change, but the time to act is now.”

Sex Education in schools

Meanwhile, McEntee said that teaching young people about respect and consent starts at primary school level.

She said that societal change is needed to address the issues embedded in the culture.

“There’s a lot of work that each and every one of us has to do. It’s each and every one of us in society and that’s why the strategy that we launched in Ireland this year, a zero tolerance plan, it really is a whole of government, whole of society strategy,” she said.

“One which requires not just government agencies, not just each and every one of us in this room, but every single person to buy into and to contribute and to change attitudes, to change the norms that have become so embedded in our society and zero tolerance.

“It’s making sure that boys and men have a role in it. It’s not just women talking to women or women talking about women, that men and boys have an absolutely key role in preventing violence against women.

“It’s greater education, greater awareness. It’s making sure that we have that education at an earlier age, so not just in our secondary schools but our primary schools, teaching what it is to respect each other, healthy relationships, consent, doing so in an age-appropriate way.

“It means acknowledging the importance of bringing about that systemic change within our society,” she said. 

McEntee also told reporters today that she is confident the state will surpass some of its early targets to increase the number of domestic violence refuge spaces.

She said her department secured more funding in the budget and is able to help increase the number of refuge spaces, particularly in counties that at present have none.

McEntee said the long-term plan was to ensure every county had refuge spaces for domestic violence victims, and has promised that the state will provide 100 more spaces by the end of next year.