Ms Niamh Wilson:

I addressed the matter in my submission. I shall outline my experience at local level. When I went to local authorities or the Department of Social Protection locally and asked if they were aware of the national strategy that said they must do this and that, I was informed that the strategy had not reached their desks. If people do not see it as their purpose then they will not do anything about it. If it is clearly within their core purpose, and it is their job to respond to people experiencing domestic violence, my experience is that they will do it.

I shall return to the point made by Ms Gleeson. The message must come from the top down with very strong institutional mechanisms for monitoring the issue and ensuring that it happens. It is only then that people at local level will be willing to discharge their duties but they must be told that it is their job.