Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

That is very interesting about Housing First.

I am aware that I am over time, but we will probably be okay. One of the things I have noticed in terms of domestic violence is the number of institutional barriers that are put in your way that are not even financial but are simple things. For example, you might leave a domestic violence situation in one county and then try to go to another county where your family support base is and you cannot access emergency accommodation because you are not on the council list for that area, or you left a council house in a different county, or maybe even in your own county, so the abuser remains in the home but you literally had to leave - and it took a lot of courage to leave - and then the supports are not in place.

The other thing is that domestic violence is often not included as one of the hardship clauses for housing in a lot of councils. Dublin City Council, I think, might include it, but a lot of them do not. I think there are things that legislatively we could do to support women who are fleeing domestic violence rather than having this situation where there is block after block after block. I do not know if either of you or maybe Deputy Nash watched the programme "Maid" on Netflix. It was utterly depressing because it was so real to the challenges that women face leaving domestic violence and that everybody faces in homelessness.