Debate contribution: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

Debate contribution by Mr Doug Beattie MC on 14 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Doug Beattie MC

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

14 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4736243

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Violence against women and girls and serious sexual offences in particular are an issue that we will have to face head-on. Lots of Members have mentioned the fact that it is a cross-departmental issue — it is not just for Justice but for Health, Education and the Executive Office. The framework for ending violence and abuse against women and girls is welcome. I added the word "abuse" because it is not just about violence; there is abuse as well. Violence starts with something else, and the word "abuse" needs to be added. However, in delivery, the Executive Office must be far more robust than what I am witnessing from it now. Throwing money to local councils to do something about ending violence against women and girls is, in principle, good practice. However, in reality, the councils are bidding for money without a joined-up plan on how best to use it. That makes it absolutely ineffectual, so we need to look at that. The motion is absolutely welcome, and, of course, the Ulster Unionist Party will support it. It raises a couple of issues. For me, the first is education. Education is at the heart of how we deal with ending violence against women and girls. That education must be delivered at every level — in our schools, in our workplaces, to our public services and in various arms of government. Via education, it is important that young men — it is predominantly for young men but not confined to them — understand what sexual consent means. There can be no ambiguity and no blanket "reasonable belief" defence. There must be detail, guidance and legislation to assist our judiciary. Our judiciary needs compulsory continuous training if judges are to fully understand the issues faced by women and girls. Their language should reflect that understanding. We were all outraged by the judge who told a convicted sex offender to "find a wife" in his summing up. That was awful. There must be pretrial education for jurors on sexual offence trials or if there are any aspects of a trial that may include matters of a sexual nature. That pretrial training must be substantial and not a training package that says, "Watch a video". The judge must be curious about it. The second issue is sentencing. We must use sentencing as a means of saying to people, "This is not acceptable". The processing time for sexual offences in Northern Ireland is approximately 675 days. Our criminal justice system is too slow and too weak, and we need to do something more. We need to stop talking about ending violence against women and girls —

— and start acting to stop violence against women and girls. Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker.

458 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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