Chief Justice, Members of the Judiciary, Police Commissioner, Minister Wallace, Members of the Oireachtas, Lord Mayor, and all of you, our supporters - good afternoon and welcome. In this difficult work it is rare for us to step back and to celebrate the achievements that have been realised through the work of Women's Aid and other groups working on the issue of violence against women. We take this opportunity today. Most of all, today, we celebrate the courage of the thousands of women experiencing abuse who spoke out and effected social, cultural and political change. We are here to celebrate the many women who broke the silence and managed to re-gain control of their lives.

In preparation for today, and in discussion with staff and volunteers - it was agreed that whilst it was important to highlight some of the developments in relation to domestic violence, it is also important to highlight, after 25 years, the challenges that face Women's Aid in the future.

25 years on, violence is still very much a reality in many Irish women's lives. We know that in the past four years that 55 women have been murdered, many by a partner or ex- partner. Women's Aid supports over 9,000 women annually; one in four Irish women have experienced abuse and it is estimated that one in ten women are presently living with abuse. These figures relate to violence against women in intimate relationships. We have no research that explores the prevalence rate for Irish women of all forms of violence. This stark reality demonstrates the challenges ahead.

On behalf of staff and volunteers, I would like to discuss our work and future challenges under the following headings: Provision of Services Policy and Research Partnership Prevention Protest

1. Provision of Services:

Direct services are the core focus of the work of Women's Aid. One of the first achievements for Women's Aid was the provision of refuge 25 years ago. This was clearly a political act in itself. The refuge was run by Women's Aid until the 1980's when it was taken over by the Eastern Health Board to facilitate Women's Aid in developing additional support services that women had identified as necessary. Ironically, 25 years later, Women's Aid and our sister organisation, Sonas Housing, are exploring the provision of refuge in west Dublin. If progressed, this will present many challenges to the organisation in the future. Women's Aid presently work in refuges in the Eastern Regional Health Authority area through the co-ordination of our Arts Programme. The Arts Programme provides women and children with the opportunity to explore alternative mediums of expression and enables them to learn new skills whilst also providing a relaxing and supportive environment where they can focus on themselves.

Women's Aid runs a number of direct services offering options to women who are experiencing abuse.

Our National Freephone Helpline which receives 30 calls a day on average.

Our advisory service, which provides one to one support and information on financial, legal, housing and social welfare, matters.

Our court accompaniment services which supports women through the legal system.

Our outreach service, which is the extension of the advisory and court accompaniment services into three local communities. There is pressure to further expand this service to other communities.

Our support group which provides on-going support to women who move on to start new lives for themselves and their children

Finally today, we launched a new service, which is Women's Aid on-line. (www.womensaid.ie) This will provide some women with an opportunity to request information or an appointment, via the Internet, without colleagues, or more importantly, her partner, knowing about it.

Women's Aid believes that there are many challenges in relation to service provision.

To ensure that all forms of violence are represented - Women's Aid's experience of working with women informs us on a daily basis that multiple forms of violence overlap in women's lives (i.e. rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, pornography and prostitution). We are committed to ensuring that the truth and reality of the impact on women of all forms of violence is represented on the political agenda and in the development of service provision.

To ensure that the voices of marginalised women are included - Women's Aid has worked closely with Pavee Point on issues of violence for traveller women. We aspire that government resource the outcomes of this work and that the recommendations in relation to our own services are implemented.

To ensure that our own services and organisation is accessible to women with disabilities. Women's Aid has been involved in an on-going process of consultation with the Forum for People with Disabilities and have developed a four-year strategic plan on the issue. A working group with representation from both groups has been established to progress this work.

In relation to refugees and asylum seekers, there is a demand on Women's Aid to consider the needs and develop appropriate responses and policies. We are developing anti-racist policies within the organisation ensuring that it is a part of the development of good practise in all our training programmes.

In relation, to service provision, Women's Aid believes that it is vital that we join with other groups working on the issue of violence against women to lobby for increased resources for service provision. Even today, there are some stretches of the country that have little or no service provision due to lack of resources.

Women's Aid is seeking increased funding and resources to adequately resource existing staffing; to resource expanding services to meet the increasing demand and on-going funding for our Arts Programmes. 2. Policy and research:

Women's Aid has always recognised policy development as an integral and essential part of service provision, informing practice, and ensuring the development of measures to protect women and children.

Women's Aid believes, as stated, that one of the areas of focus for us presently and in the future is to work with other groups working on the issue of violence against women. We believe that the issue of violence against women is at a critical stage of development in Ireland.

Women's Aid and other groups have been very strategic in their participation of the development of a comprehensive national plan on violence against women. The national plan covers the provision of services; protective measures and preventative work (Taskforce Report on Violence against Women). However, the NGO sector on violence against women now needs to work with government to ensure a move from aspiration and intention into concrete measures, actions, targets and timeframes which result in effective change.

Women's Aid, (and other groups represented on the National Steering Committee on Violence against Women), has begun a consultative process with the objective of developing common goals and a platform for action. We believe that the best interest of women and children would be best served by a developed, united sector which can continue to hold independent polices, but will negotiate as a body with government on agreed issues.

Linked into the policy work in Women's Aid has been the development of research. Research work within the organisation is where the gathering of information nationally and internationally is used to inform the policy and practice within the organisation; we identify priorities and needs in the commissioning of research, commission same; disseminate findings and ensure implementations of the recommendations. We believe it is important for NGO's to be involved in research, ensuring that the experience of the services and women's experience are central.

Dr Doyle has commented already on our initial research in 1993. As stated, from this work developed the existing training and work with health practitioners. We will continue this work and look to expand it where there are obvious demands - for example, Violence against Women - An issue for the Psychiatric Services.

Women's Aid also commissioned research, Making the Links, which provided information on the prevalence and extent of domestic violence in Ireland. It also provided information on the obstacles preventing women from leaving a violent partner, with recommendations for all agencies that women access. One of the key recommendations was the setting up of a Taskforce on Violence against Women, which has been since been implemented and on which Women's Aid is represented. We are delighted to welcome here today, Minister Mary Wallace, Chair of the committee, as well as its secretariat and many members of the committee. Also welcome to the Chairs, Designated Officers and members of the Regional Committees who have travelled to be with us here today.

In 1999, Women's Aid commissioned research to explore the effectiveness of the legislation on domestic violence. 25 years ago, when Women's Aid was established, there was no legislation to protect women from any form of violence by a partner. Today, we have come along way from this where legislation clearly states that domestic violence; rape and sexual assault are crimes. Women's Aid has lobbied extensively for legislative change and has been effective in accomplishing the introduction of same.

However, Safety and Sanctions, looked at the application and enforcement of the legislation and how effective our legal system is in providing protection for victims and accountability for abusers.

This piece of research found that despite the legislation, the levels of violence and the number of breaches of the civil orders, only 3% of those who breached orders received a prison sentence. Only 14% -16% resulted in any kind of conviction. The research outlines many recommendations for the legal system for providing greater protection for victims and sanctions for perpetrators.

Women's Aid in conjunction with Women's Aid Dundalk and Clare Haven House are lobbying the Department of Justice to progress and implement these recommendations.

One of the challenges for Women's Aid for the future is to maximise partnership and participation at all policy levels.

Women's Aid is presently represented on a number of government and policy making fora. Whilst we welcome partnership and consultation mechanisms between government and the voluntary sector and acknowledge the motivation of government in consulting with the NGO sector, it places enormous pressure on the NGO sector in terms of the level of time and expertise which such consultation demands.

This pressure is further increased through Women's Aid's commitment to consulting with other NGO's in order to maximise policy development opportunities. Women's Aid is committed to participating in this work but aims to constantly evaluate the impact of that involvement. We would take this opportunity to urge policy makers to resource NGO's to participate in these processes effectively.

Key work for Women's Aid in the future has emerged through mutual learning and support between Women's Aid and the Family Resource Centre in St. Michael's Estate, Inchicore. It led to the setting up of the Women's Aid Specialist Support Agency. The agency works with the community development programme to support communities responding to the issue of violence against women. One of the challenges arising from this work is the facilitation and/or encouragement of men's participation in this work in communities.

Women's Aid believes that it is vital that men take on to challenge male violence and the backlash against the women's movement. This has been most effective when this is done in a way that supports the women's movement in their work. Women's Aid is urging men to take up the issue of violence against women by challenging male violence in solidarity with women's groups and women's work.

Women's Aid through the training unit works in partnership with both voluntary and statutory agencies to develop a response to the issue of domestic violence.

The unit provides specific training to a range of agencies and service providers including the Gardai, health professionals, refuge workers, housing officers, social services, Helpline volunteers, community groups and other statutory and voluntary organisations. Specific training modules are developed in partnership with service providers. The challenge for us in this work is to continue to develop new models and ways of working. We need to be ever vigilant in reviewing and monitoring the impact of the training on agency practice and in turn on women's lives.

Presently Women's Aid is conducting a piece of research in schools, examining young peoples experience of violence and where they might access support. This is a European funded programme which is a result of the educational work Women's Aid have been conducting in schools for over ten years. It is horrifying to realise the high levels of violence experienced by young girls.

It is here that we see examples of the emerging forms of violence experienced by women e.g. pornography, sexualisation of young women and the high level of violence in dating relationships. In working with schools, many young girls are reporting to us that their first sexual experience is either forced or against their will. The challenge for Women's Aid is to ensure that the programme developed as part of this work is adopted by schools. Preventative work is essential with young people.

We need also to look at developing appropriate supports that those young women experiencing abuse will access. Again I would use this opportunity as a plea for funding towards this vital area of work. We must work with young people if we are in any way serious about the elimination of violence against women. 5. Protest:

Women's Aid believes strongly in the power of protest and attribute many of the developments on the issue, mentioned today, to protest from women and the women's movement. We believe that it is important to keep the issue of violence against women to the forefront through public awareness campaigns, media liaison, street theatre, and public demonstrations.

The overriding challenge for the organisation is to build on the success and developments of the last 25 years. To constantly monitor and review our work and ensure women's experiences are central to that work. I would like to finish by extending a thank you to all our staff and volunteers for their incredible commitment and expertise to the work and to all of you for your presence today and your on-going support.