Sinn Fein TD urges nationwide domestic abuse‑response training for councillors
A nationwide push is needed to deliver trauma‑informed training to councillors and representatives dealing with issues of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence (DSGBV.)
Sinn Fein TD for South Dublin -Central Maire Devine has spoken to Dublin Live about the lack of training for elected representatives in addressing sensitive issues revealed to them by constituents. As a politician with experience at every level from councillor to senator to TD, Ms Devine has called for this training as part of the wider goals of the Zero Tolerance campaign.
“I absolutely do not think elected representatives receive enough training or enough specialised training, especially when it comes to intimate partner or sexual violence,” she said. While Ms Devine admitted her work as a senior psychiatric nurse meant she had prior experience with these kinds of subjects, others need guidance with “helping constituents trying to deal with the chaotic fallout of trauma and violence in their lives.”
Ms Devine stressed the importance of providing representatives with the tools needed to “recognise when that trauma isn’t explicitly disclosed but is causing housing or healthcare/mental health issues.”
“We also need to understand what constitutes financial abuse, coercive control, reproductive coercion, and more,” she said. With councillors often encountering difficult situations involving the sharing of disturbing images, marital rape, stalking, and harassment, Ms Devine stressed that representatives “should not have blinders on” about the grim reality of everyday life for many in Dublin.
DSGBV training has already been rolled out for representatives in South Dublin, which inspired Ms Devine’s call to expand it across the country. “People move between these local council areas all the time and it didn’t seem right to me that some council staff and councillors they might encounter would have received this training and others would not,” she said.
The success of this training in South Dublin led to Sinn Fein councillors in Waterford, Westmeath, and Fingal putting forward a motion drafted by clinical psychologist Cllr John Smyth requesting their own training. This proposal is also set to go before the Louth and Kerry county councils. Cllr Joe Lynch has also actively pushed for policy changes to transforming Cork into a trauma-informed city.
“Last week saw our first training of Sinn Fein constituency office staff and Leinster House staff, by Sonas. And later this month all Sinn Fein’s TDs and Senators will undergo a bespoke in-person training by Sonas which is designed to put us in the shoes of a DSGBV survivor seeking assistance from their local council and staff agencies,” Ms Devine stated.
“This will take place at Leinster House and I am also exploring how to train our party canvassers and leafleters as well—anyone who comes into contact with constituents should know how to signpost victims to the appropriate local resources, at a bare minimum.”
Ms Devine explained that her office is continuously “inundated with calls, emails, and in-person visits by constituents” dealing with a myriad of social issues that often hint at domestic violence issues buried below the surface. “Intimate partner violence and family violence have a ripple effect throughout the lives of the abuser’s victim and family members,” she said.
According to Ms Devine, the fact that the Council requires abusers to voluntarily remove themselves from problematic tenancies means that perpetrators can abuse the system and keep survivors in an eternal cycle of coercive control. “I can’t tell you how many people have come to me for help with their social housing application or existing tenancy, and need to try to have their abuser removed from the tenancy or need to transfer to another jurisdiction to escape their abuser,” she said.
“In other cases, since our housing systems are in a perpetual state of emergency, victims end up returning to live with their abusers because they cannot obtain permanent safe housing on their own. Our deplorable housing situation in Ireland is not only a disgrace to us all, it is also a possible death sentence for some,” Ms Devine said.
The Zero Tolerance campaign aims to address all of these issues and bring this conversation “out of the shadows” as a grassroots response to the hidden violence within Irish society. While legislation is an important part of the initiative's goals, Ms Devine stressed that progressive ideals must be “embedded in our communities” to be truly effective.
“We need businesses, sporting organisations, colleges and universities, and more to pledge not to tolerate such abuse, and this is what the campaign endeavours to achieve,” she said. Ms Devine highlighted Noel Fleming, Fran Dempsey, Kim Buckley, Rebecca Pelan, and Sarah Conway as important contributors to the campaign.
“So much needs to be changed that it can seem very daunting, honestly. Ireland has a very poor track record of supporting survivors in this country, from the Magdalene laundries, to mother and baby homes, to St. John Ambulance survivors, to the lack of care and concern for children abused by clergy,” Ms Devine stated.
With new legislation such as the Victims of Sexual Violence Civil Protection Orders Bill 2025, sponsored by Deputy Matt Carthy, providing survivors with the right to get restraining orders placed on their abusers, Ms Devine said this is a great example of Ireland moving in the right direction. However, Ms Devine stressed that there is still far too little coordination between local councils and national government on these issues. “It just seems like everyone is acting on their own without any kind of roadmap in place,” she said.
“It is vital for politicians and public servants to be trauma-informed—not only when someone discloses abuse but when their behaviour or social issues indicate a possible underlying trauma. Children can’t always speak their traumas, sometimes they act out or their behaviour changes in other ways which should prompt us to investigate why. This is also the case with some disabled people and those with conditions such as dementia.”
These issues don’t only affect women, as Ms Devine cited Men’s Aid receiving an increase of 40% in contacts over 2020 and say that the stigma of society’s perception of males in violent relationships often stops them coming forward. “Men have told us they…may feel emasculated when their abuser is a woman. [They] say they feel they won’t be believed because of their gender and physicality, or they will be ridiculed for not being able to protect themselves from the abuse,” a spokesperson from Men’s Aid said.
“I’m working on some efforts which could help to organise and push change across the country. If we can improve social housing policy to better protect victims and give them the long-term tools they need to heal, plus encourage community members to speak up when their mates consume violent or discriminatory media, or repeat manosphere rhetoric, or express violent intentions, I will feel we have improved people’s lives,” Ms Devine stated.
The Zero Tolerance campaign has been active since 2022. At the October meeting of Dublin City Council , Cllr Ciaran O Meachair’s request for annual training to be provided for all councillors to be equipped with knowledge needed to address domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence among their constituents was passed.
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