Ms Fiona Ryan:

There are very interesting statistics. We have been collecting them for the past year or so and I am happy to a have a longer conversation with the Deputy and provide them. What is really important for the Deputy to realise is that domestic violence has an impact on all sectors of society but there are women affected by it who already face multiple challenges around poverty. Women are rational. People are rational and make good choices for themselves. Victims do not contact our services unless they have to.

Members should think of their own families and lives. If one considers that between one in five and one in seven women in Ireland will experience domestic violence at some stage in their lives, members know someone who has experienced it. The first people to whom they will turn will be within their own network as they will go to their families or friends. Consequently, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg and are dealing with the people who must come to us. I refer to the range of services we offer and a person in outreach could be a home owner in Balbriggan who has approached us seeking advice on what kind of court order one can have and it might just be one contact. However, a foreign national living in an apartment in another area elsewhere in north or west Dublin in which we work might want ongoing support because there may be child and custody and access issues. Obviously, we are trying to build a profile of the clients with whom we work but we start with their needs and then work out to build that wraparound service around them.

Deputy Ó Broin asked me a number of questions and again is seeking solid responses. Local authorities really must engage with the issue and I note local authorities in the United Kingdom have done so. There are some instances in which domestic violence could be grounds for a notice to quit. The last thing a local authority desires is a scenario in which the victim of domestic violence leaves a three-bedroom or four-bedroom house while the perpetrator still resides there-----