Ms Mary McDermott:

That is certainly a core issue for us. I will be straightforward: our network of refuges around the country, and other organisations represented here, often have a problem. We are told we do not meet the needs of X, Y and Z cohort. There is not a single refuge manager, CEO, or staff member who does not want to be able to respond to the layered vulnerabilities and the marginalised groups that are in need of this support across the axes mentioned. However, we cannot do that without an integrated, sustained and developed infrastructure. The infrastructure is completely Dickensian and is outdated, and staff are pushed to the limit in, for example, the cases of addictions that arise from being in an abusive situation. That means there are complex and chaotic cases. We do not want to get caught into a situation where people are further victim blamed because they are self-medicating to try to cope and the resources are not available to help them. We encounter all of this.

I refer to the wider sense of design in terms of responding to domestic violence and refuge and support services. We understand that there will be a recommendation that refuges are built to meet the standards under the Istanbul Convention. The last thing we need is to throw up buildings and refuges that are not well designed for future proofing or that are not flexible buildings designed to become community engagement centres, where young people and children can come in and where all the vulnerabilities and layers are present. As a cautionary warning, this is not simply a question of throwing up beds - I use that expression in a slightly caricatured fashion. It is important that we sit down, design and plan it. I note Deputy Niamh Smyth's comment on the Monaghan-Cavan area. We hope to run a pilot project that will attend to some of these issues so that the architectural space is flexible and adaptable, that it contains a community development element and that best practice and robust understanding of the nature of domestic, sexual and gender based violence, and the skills that are needed to respond to it, are present. My colleagues might have more to say on this.