Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to say, as I mentioned in my initial speech, that while the number of sexual offences seems to have reduced, the number of domestic violence cases and breaches of orders has increased significantly. The number of cases brought to the Director of Public Prosecutions has increased frighteningly since the beginning of March. I believe the increase has been more than 86%. A number of things have been happening in response to that. We obviously work closely with An Garda Síochána. Operation Faoiseamh, which was launched earlier this year, has been in operation throughout the pandemic. It was relaunched only a few weeks ago. Through this operation, gardaí are out in the community, proactively engaging with previous victims of domestic abuse to try to ensure that they have information on the supports An Garda and community and voluntary organisations provide.

Various NGOs and my own Department have been working on a very significant campaign. The Deputy will have seen the No Excuses campaign, which was relaunched last year, and the Still Here campaign, which is visible on our television screens, on social media and in newspapers. A very significant amount of work is happening in that regard. We are very lucky in that this is an area the Garda Commissioner has prioritised. It was also a priority of his in his previous role in the PSNI and he has carried that over. There is a great focus on the issue but it is a massive problem at the moment. We need to use people's heightened awareness of the problem as an opportunity to address it and to make these issues much more visible and to make people much more aware of them. That is why these campaigns are so important. They highlight the signs so that people can identify them in themselves or in people they know.

The roll-out of the divisional service protective units had begun but, as a result of the Tom O'Malley report which made more than 57 recommendations to support victims of domestic and sexual violence, An Garda committed to having all of those units up and running by the end of September.

That target was met. I will discuss and will undertake to have conversations with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, and the Commissioner on how the resources are put in and whether this is something that they have discussed before. Obviously, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will continue to have an element of responsibility. We are both working in the area of domestic violence. I will outline what we are doing at the moment. I have begun a process of auditing across all Departments how we best drive and ensure the implementation of supports and services for victims of domestic and sexual violence. I am keen to ensure this happens in the best way possible. The Department of Justice, the Department with responsibility for equality matters, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage all have a remit in tackling and supporting victims of domestic violence. This audit will look at all of these Departments and agencies and work with them in that regard.

This may not be specific to the Garda role but additional funding was allocated with €280,000 plus provided as part of the Supplementary Estimate. The additional funding this year is specifically to work with the community and voluntary organisations that are linking in with the Garda. That was important funding at the height of the pandemic.