Ms Fiona Ryan:

I thank the Chairman. I am conscious that the committee is at the end of a very long day, so members will be pleased to know that I will be making some very simple statements to the committee. If they are taken on board and remembered, members have the opportunity to make a real impact. I appreciate that we were facilitated to be here.

My name is Fiona Ryan and I am the chief executive of the SONAS domestic violence charity, the largest provider of front-line services to women, children and young people experiencing domestic violence in the State, although we primarily operate in the greater Dublin area. I am accompanied by Dr. Stephanie Holt of Trinity College Dublin, who is an internationally acknowledged expert in the area of child welfare, protection and domestic violence and latterly has done a great deal of research around the intersection between homelessness, child welfare and protection and domestic violence. In terms of expertise, we are very lucky to have her here today. One might well ask why the head of a domestic violence service and an academic are here today to talk to the committee about domestic violence. There is a simple answer. This committee is examining the issues of housing and homelessness and is looking for solutions. While I can put forward the case as to why women and children experiencing domestic violence are facing a perfect storm when homelessness is included - that is what we are facing every day out there on the front line - I am going to start with general homelessness statistics.

If I could leave the committee with one message today it would be that if it wants to find a solution to families entering homelessness, it has to engage with the reality of domestic violence. In a survey of 70 families who became newly homeless in March, one in six said domestic violence was the main cause of their homeless experience. Add that figure to those who said they had become homeless in the past because of domestic violence and the figure is closer to one in four. I will allow members to reflect on that figure. We were discussing this today and when we had the opportunity to go in front of the committee. We asked ourselves what would be our biggest challenge in going in front of this committee. It was not that we thought members would not be sympathetic to domestic violence or would not want to find a solution to homelessness, but we figured our biggest challenge was to say how domestic violence is a leading cause of families becoming homeless. I will leave members with that thought. One in four newly homeless families are such because of domestic violence.

Committee members will know from their own constituency clinics that 78% of victims do not disclose their experiences to anyone, which means that we have a massive hidden problem in terms of unofficial homelessness and domestic violence. Professor Holt will speak more about this and with more authority but we are talking here about a particular cohort of the homeless population that is at additional risk.

There is tendency in Ireland - I hope the committee will forgive me for digressing - to view domestic violence as something that is uncomfortable and hard to figure out. It is something that happens behind the hall door and even though we have the words to describe it, we have not quite come to terms with the fact that it is a crime. While it is a crime that affects women, children and men, it has a disproportionate impact on women and children. If one wants to talk about crime and prevalence, about what lands a person in an emergency room, in intensive care or in a morgue, then one must talk about domestic violence. More women have been killed in the past ten years by partners or in a family context than people killed in a gangland context. There has been a massive response, both in terms of the public imagination and the statutory response, to gangland killings but no similar response to women and children experiencing domestic violence. That is the nexus point, crisis or perfect storm to which we refer when we talk about families entering homelessness because of domestic violence. Such families are already at risk. We are talking here about their physical safety, not just talking their psychological or emotional well being. We are putting them into homeless services.

SONAS provides a refuge in west Dublin as part of its suite of services. Some committee members are from that constituency and they will know that we are overwhelmed. As part of my preparation for today's meeting, I consulted managers of other refuges, including Saoirse, Aoibhneas and the refuge in Rathmines. The quantum of services provided by SONAS goes beyond refuges. In terms of the front line, refuge providers are in the trenches and all are overwhelmed. We are turning away five times as many women and children as we can accommodate. These women and children are going to stay with relatives, sleeping on floors and presenting to the homeless services. There is a distinct link, a causal relationship, between domestic violence and families entering homelessness.

The overwhelming majority of these newly homeless families are female-headed households. As I said earlier, domestic violence is a crime which disproportionately affects women and children. The question has to be asked – how are solutions to families becoming homeless to be found when one of the root causes of women and children becoming homeless is domestic violence but this is rarely even acknowledged? I doubt that anyone who has appeared before this committee to discuss homelessness has even referenced domestic violence.