Ms Christina Sherlock:

Women's Aid welcomes the opportunity to offer its views to the committee on the topic of shelters and refuges for women escaping domestic violence and abuse. We wish to make some recommendations for change.

Women's Aid operates a 24-hour national freephone helpline and a number of other face-to-face domestic abuse services. Last year, in 2020, in excess of 30,000 contacts were made with our services, an increase of 43% on the previous year.

One in four women in Ireland has been subjected to domestic violence and abuse. It has serious, long-lasting, multifaceted impacts on the mental and physical health of women and children. Domestic violence also has significant impacts on women's finances, their employment prospects and their risk of being pushed into poverty and homelessness.

A lack of in-depth, up-to-date data and research on domestic violence makes it difficult to gain a thorough perspective on the prevalence, nature and scope of domestic abuse in Ireland, particularly in terms of younger people. Better data collection and more research is needed to ensure all victims of abuse are provided with high-quality specialised support tailored to their individual needs.

Ireland does not have enough refuge places available to meet the Istanbul Convention standard and nine counties have no refuges. This urgently needs to change. All refuges should also meet the needs of minority groups and those affected by all forms of gender-based violence.

Funding is a significant issue in the area of domestic violence and abuse. Funding for refuges needs to be increased urgently to meet the surge in demand brought on by the pandemic and maintain compliance with Covid-19 health regulations. Funding is also needed for the provision of specialist children's support in refuges and to fund qualified external supervision support for all domestic violence specialist support workers.

Women's Aid believe that the proactive, victim-centric approach embodied within Operation Faoiseamh should be part of Garda routine procedure. Women's Aid also believes that all members of An Garda Síochána should be briefed on their obligations under the Garda domestic abuse policy. Training on the dynamics and impacts of coercive control should be rolled out to all front-line members of An Garda Síochána to support responses to calls from victims and for the effective roll-out of new risk assessment tools.

A comprehensive strategy for move-on, long-term accommodation for victims of domestic abuse needs to be developed to provide long-term options. The needs of domestic violence survivors must be included in any national homeless and housing strategy.

I wish to share one statistic from the Women's Aid national helpline. For two out of every three calls we receive from women asking us to help them find a refuge place in Ireland, the refuge is full when we call on those women's behalf. What option does that leave those women? They either sleep in their cars, they have to try to find a bed for that night to be safe, or they go back to an unsafe home.

I thank the committee for the time. I am happy, like all my colleagues, to answer any questions from the committee members.