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A young abuse campaigner has criticized the Government for failing to tackle the deepening domestic violence crisis in Ireland at a special conference in the UK.<\/p>\nA young abuse campaigner has criticized the Government for failing to tackle the deepening domestic violence crisis in Ireland at a special conference in the UK.<\/p>\n
Ainie Grainger, a co-founder of Stop Domestic Violence in Ireland (SDVII), accused the Government of paying lip service to the problem of domestic violence.<\/p>\n
Addressing the audience from the stage at the Cambridge Union, where previous guest speakers include businessman Bill Gates, Winston Churchill and musician Brian May, Ms Grainger urged the next government to listen to victims and survivors and to introduce legislation to make domestic violence a crime.<\/p>\n
Referring to the recent high-profile death of young mother Nadine Lott, Ms Grainger, 21, said: \u201cThey know that something needs to be done, but again it is just brushed under the carpet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what is coming down the line. I\u2019m scared for young people in Ireland because the problem is getting worse, but nothing is being done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opening the panel discussion, Ms Grainger detailed some of the harrowing experiences she endured from the age of eight at the hands of her father.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time I didn\u2019t understand (why the abuse was happening), I just thought I was being punished because I was bold,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
As she got older, Ms Grainger recalled how the abuse became worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe screaming, the shouting, it was harrowing, listening to it on a Friday and Saturday night when you should be sitting at home with your mam and your dad, watching a film, playing with your toys \u2013 that didn\u2019t happen for me,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember one night, I was in bed, it was late and I was looking at the wall listening to the screaming. I was just praying, please God, how long will I have to put up with this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Grainger told how one day, when she was 11, \u201csuddenly it was all over\u201d, when her mother Priscilla discovered he was having an affair and finally plucked up the courage to get out.<\/p>\n
She told the audience: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy for her to leave \u2013 it\u2019s never easy to leave. It\u2019s never easy to just walk out that door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a dad, that was OK \u2013 all my friends had a dad and I didn\u2019t \u2013 but my mam made up for it. My mam was my mam and dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Grainger recalled their marathon court proceedings, after which they were effectively left penniless.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI remember sitting outside the family law court in Dolphin House [Dublin]. I was 13. I didn\u2019t understand, I couldn\u2019t understand why my dad was doing this. Why were other dads so good with their mams and dads? Why was I here? I just didn\u2019t understand it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in and out of the courts for years. We were running a bed and breakfast. We slept on our kitchen floors on some night to give up our room for people in the B&B. We took in students, we cooked them dinners \u2013 we did anything we could do to survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to deal with it because the law was not on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young Dublin woman said domestic violence cannot be tackled effectively until it is formally recognized as a crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cDomestic abuse in Ireland remains a stigma, something that is brushed under the carpet that nobody wants to talk about,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Ms Grainger was followed on the podium by the leading author, barrister and former national coordinator of the UK National Women\u2019s Aid Federation, Elizabeth Woodcraft.<\/p>\n
Ms Woodcraft played a key role in the campaign to have domestic violence recognized as something that the police could and should intervene in, in Britain through the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act of 1976 (DVA).<\/p>\n
She described the legislation as a \u201creal breakthrough\u201d for victims.<\/p>\n
Ms Woodcraft told the audience: \u201cOne of the wonderful things about it was that a power of arrest could be attached to an injunction.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn injunction is a civil matter \u2013 you go to the county court and an order is made telling someone that they can or can\u2019t do something. It\u2019s a civil matter and (before the passing of the DVA) it was really laborious.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real breakthrough to have police having the power to (act). Let\u2019s face it, they did have the power, you know, if someone\u2019s been hit, someone else can be arrested.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut strangely, they weren\u2019t using that power.\u201d<\/p>\n