Gender-based violence centre of talks between Irish and Northern Irish leaders

Irish and Northern Irish leaders spent a “considerable amount” of time discussing violence against women and girls at a high-level talks on Friday.

In a press conference following a full meeting of the North South Ministerial Council, the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and the defence minister of Ireland, along with the First and Deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland, all stressed the importance of tackling the issue.

Several referenced a review, published on Tuesday, of the investigation into the death of showjumper Katie Simpson.

It found “institutional misogyny” in the PSNI contributed to “clear warning signs” being missed.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the two governments “share the challenge” of gender-based violence and have been “sharing ideas around how we can co-operate even further to try to drive it out”.

“This is not inevitable … violence against women and girls is something that we can do something about.

“So we’ve spent a considerable amount of our meeting this morning just talking on that front.”

Helen McEntee, the Irish Minister for Defence, said the topic is now a “permanent feature on our agenda”.

She added: “I think that it is right that this becomes and stays a permanent feature”.

She echoed Ms O’Neill’s sentiments, saying: “This is a shared challenge and epidemic that we are facing, and it’s only right that we would work together to share best practice, to share our own experience, but importantly, share our own actions as to how we can combat this issue.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly described it as “a scourge that visits upon both sides of the border”.

She said: “It’s an issue right across this island, and therefore it’s incredibly important, I think, that we do co-operate.

“Some of these perpetrators do operate across the border as well and think the sharing of timely information to try to tackle this is really important.”

Micheal Martin discussed a visit he made to a Women’s Aid centre on Thursday, where he said he met with a number of people “who were impacted by coercive control, by violence, quite a number who were trafficked to Ireland”.

The Taoiseach also highlighted programmes organised by sports organisations, including the GAA’s Game Changer initiative and Fair Game, which is run by Women’s Aid and the Irish Football Association.

All Ireland awareness campaigns were discussed during the meeting, Simon Harris said.

The Tanaiste also said the leaders discussed research that could be carried out about “attitudes in this area and what policy levers are required”.