Commons Committee in Belfast for sessions on effect of paramilitary activity on women, and cost of living
Meeting details
The Committee takes evidence in dual sessions at Stormont examining women’s experiences of paramilitary activity and organised crime in Northern Ireland and the cost of living crisis in NI.
Paramilitary links are being used as a means of coercive control over women who are victims and survivors of domestic abuse according to written submissions by women’s groups whose representatives will be witnesses at the session. Domestic abuse in NI is at its highest reported level since records began in 2004/05. Specialist domestic abuse organisations have also warned that the cost of living crisis is making it harder for women to escape domestic abuse.
The Committee will ask a second panel of trade union and academic representatives about women’s experiences of rising costs in Northern Ireland. Witnesses will also be invited to give their views on the impact of problems in getting the UK Government’s energy support to billpayers in Northern Ireland.