Ms Eibhlin Byrne:

I will be brief because the role of the Child and Family Agency is very much as the backdrop to the front-line services and to be a support to those services which are working with the victims of abuse in all its forms. I am the executive manager in the chief executive's office in the Child and Family Agency. He is committed to this problem and we acknowledge that the sector is fragile and in need of much consolidation, and that is why it is not being put directly under services but being kept within the chief executive's office. I am joined by Ms Joan Mullan, our newly-appointed project manager, who will be the operational lead for the Child and Family Agency in designing the roadmap for services.

From 1 January 2014, only the last six weeks, domestic, sexual and gender based violence, DSGBV, services have been under the remit of Tusla, as the Child and Family Agency is known. Under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 we hold responsibility for the wider health services. It is unique in that most of our services relate to children but in terms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence we work with all families where violence is present, not just those families where children are affected, although we all realise the effect on all children where domestic violence takes place in the home.

There are many areas which we need to prioritise but we have recognised two particular areas. We need a system of national oversight. We work under the oversight provided by Cosc, and the national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender based violence, but the services are delivered throughout the country by a variety of national, voluntary and local organisations all with their own remits, boards and management structures. A key challenge for the agency will be how to draw all these services together in a comprehensive response to domestic, sexual and gender based violence which is not just dependent on whether one is a child, woman or man in Clonakilty or Coolock, but ensures one gets the same response wherever one lives. The second priority is to move from a national response to regional co-ordination and local management. A key issue for our agency will be responses at the most local, practical level. We do not want diktats coming nationally which do not match local needs.

In 2013 we funded 20 crisis refuges, 16 rape crisis centres and 24 support services. Crisis refuges accounted for 57% of our total budget, rape crisis centres 23% and support services 20%. The money was spent fairly equally around the country, approximately €4 million in each region. However, within those regions it is not well-dispersed. Some areas are very well provided with services while others have no services at all. That will be a challenge for us. We will need to examine how we disperse services throughout the country. Like all services we will face reductions in 2014. We will face a 2.5% reduction in this sector, as in our other services. Our regional directors have been asked to examine their budgets for 2014 to reduce regionally their budgets by 2.5%, but they must make the decision where, within their region, they must make those cuts and where the greatest needs are within regions. Where possible we are trying to address local needs.

We are very conscious that we need to work with other Departments, for example the Department of Justice and Equality in terms of legislation improvement and, very importantly, with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in housing which is a major priority. There are many challenges. The beds we seek for people who are suffering from domestic, sexual and gender-based violence are very often used to address homelessness as well. That is a particular problem for us and we have worked very closely with Safe Ireland on this and it has given us very good advice. As well as Safe Ireland we have worked with Rape Crisis Network Ireland, RCNI, and these two networks have supported the agency. A tendering process will take place in the next two months to identify what supports are required to deliver the services nationally and they will be tendered.

This new agency, the drawing together of services and the fact that we will have a real national operational plan for the first time gives us an opportunity to examine a more streamlined service delivery to decide what we can do better in terms of delivering services for the children and families. I would like to examine how we will deliver services within communities. While I strongly believe we need to support refuges, crisis centres, etc., we have not addressed the issue for the women, men and children who are anonymous sufferers in their homes. Are our social workers and therapeutic workers in communities qualified to recognise and deal with domestic violence in the homes where people have not sought services elsewhere? I look forward to working with my colleagues as we go forward.