{"id":634479,"date":"2026-09-24T11:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T11:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634479\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T11:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T11:38:08","slug":"nikita-hand-should-be-the-national-treasure-not-him-a-rare-moment-of-dail-unity-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634479\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nikita Hand should be the national treasure. Not him\u2019: A rare moment of D\u00e1il unity \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a brief moment in the D\u00e1il<\/a> on Wednesday, both Government<\/a> and Opposition benches appeared at one on a budgetary measure. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole country owes a debt of gratitude to Nikita Hand<\/a>,\u201d began Labour<\/a> leader Ivana Bacik<\/a> to the silenced chamber. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the bravery you have shown, thank you, Nikita. So many other people have felt emboldened to speak up about the abuse they have experienced because Nikita\u2019s courage gave them courage.\u201d <\/p>\n

As questions kicked off at midday, there were just five TDs and Ministers sitting alongside the Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers<\/a>, who was standing in for the Taoiseach again. <\/p>\n

With the budget<\/a> less than two weeks away, demands are mounting on Chambers, who has now been dubbed everything from Jack Thatcher to Jack Frost. <\/p>\n

Dressed in a sharp pink blazer, Bacik also had the budget on her mind. In particular, increasing the level of support for victims and survivors of domestic violence. <\/p>\n

She noted that Hand, a former hairdresser from Drimnagh, published a book, Not the Perfect Victim, and has been speaking over recent days about \u201csuffering the trauma of rape and sexual violence\u201d. <\/p>\n

A High Court<\/a> jury found in November 2024 that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor<\/a> had assaulted Hand in the Beacon Hotel, Dublin, in December 2018 and was she awarded \u20ac250,000 in damages.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I still get panic attacks\u2019: Nikita Hand on impact of Conor McGregor trialOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I know what happened in that room\u2019: The full story of the Conor McGregor caseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

McGregor appealed the decision, but the Court of Appeal dismissed his case in July 2025. <\/p>\n

Bacik recalled how Hand has spoken of the long-term impacts: \u201cPTSD, hours-long panic attacks, experiencing her own body, in her words, \u2018being turned into a crime scene\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe multimillionaire sportsperson found liable in a civil court is responsible for causing this loss to Nikita Hand, and his violation continued long after the assault was over. Nikita should be, and is, the national treasure. Not him.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Dublin Bay South TD continued that this was not \u201cHand\u2019s ordeal alone\u201d, pointing out there is an epidemic of sexual, domestic and gender-based violence in Irish society and a \u201cculture of misogyny which feeds the proclivity of those perpetrators who, frighteningly, walk among us every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s policy on gender-based violence is described as one of no tolerance, but that zero-tolerance approach still sees parts of Irish society and the State \u201ctolerating the intolerable\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is it that, in just six months, nearly 2,000 women were turned away from domestic violence services due to a lack of State-funded beds?<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that matter, why is it that victims, usually women and children, still have to leave their own homes to seek safety? Why does the abuser get to stay in the family home? Because that is still the reality, all too often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her party has called on the Government to deliver a \u201csafe fund\u201d in the upcoming budget, with the proposal for a \u20ac3 million, three-year, non-means-tested fund, administered by Women\u2019s Aid, to support victims of domestic abuse.<\/p>\n

In response, Chambers said he echoed the Labour leader\u2019s comments about the \u201cbravery, courage and leadership\u201d of Nikita Hand, who has \u201cdone the State some service in her wider leadership over the last number of months\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Government to consider \u20ac3m \u2018safe fund\u2019 for women urgently fleeing domestic violenceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The work of previous ministers for justice and the current Minister for Justice, Jim O\u2019Callaghan, has shown \u201cwe are taking an unprecedented whole-of-Government approach to the scourge of violence, which we are seeing too often in our communities\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan was nodding in agreement on the Government benches at this stage. Chambers said he would consider the party\u2019s specific suggestion around a safe fund. Bacik thanked the minister for his \u201cpositive words\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a simple, straightforward proposal. It has been done elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a brief moment in the D\u00e1il on Wednesday, both Government and Opposition benches appeared at one on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1714,15049,1523,73,61,60,3657,13808,6189,43,1717],"class_list":["post-634479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-dail-eireann","tag-government","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ivana-bacik","tag-jack-chambers","tag-labour-party","tag-news","tag-nikita-hand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}