Naomi Long: North and south need to treat women better

Naomi Long said there needs to be a zero tolerance approach to abuse, misogyny and the entitlement culture that exists from the locker rooms to the corridors of power in the Republic and Northern Ireland.

Mrs Long made the comments at the Shared Island Dialogue which met to discuss tackling gender-based violence and abuse on the island of Ireland.

Those attending the event, in Kells, included Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee as well as campaigners and women's rights advocates.

Mrs Long said there is a need to improve sex education standards in schools, and to address attitudes where gender-based violence and sexual abuse can flourish.

"There is an urgency in this. A whole generation of young women are growing up forming relationships, and having sexual experiences, in a context where one in four will experience domestic abuse," Mrs Long added.

"We owe to them, we owe to ourselves to deliver not just better law and policy but a sea change in how women are treated on this island.

"We have to have a zero tolerance approach to abuse, to misogyny, harassment, the entitlement culture that exists in many places that still pervades not just the locker rooms of Ireland, but also the corridors of power on occasion.

"I believe that together we can deliver that change, but the time to act is now."

Meanwhile, Ms McEntee said that teaching young people about respect and consent starts at primary school level.

The Fine Gael minister said that societal change is needed to address the issues embedded in the culture.

"There's a lot of work that each and every one of us has to do. It's each and every one of us in society and that's why the strategy that we launched in Ireland this year, a zero tolerance plan, it really is a whole of government, whole of society strategy," she said.

Mrs Long also said the collapse of the Northern Ireland institutions will impact on the passing of legislation to address gender-based violence.

She said the Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy cannot be finalised without a functioning executive.