Ms Noeline Blackwell:

There is not enough funding for us either. All 16 rape crisis centres, operating within their own geographic areas nationally and collaborating where necessary and possible, lost huge amounts of money, approximately 20% of funding and more in some cases, during the course of the recession. Funding has not yet been restored to pre-recession levels and we cannot meet the need we know exists with the funding we get from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs via Tusla and the Department of Justice and Equality via Cosc. While we recognise that both Departments are doing their best within their budgets to fund us, we have huge concerns, given the challenge to meet our current need, that we are certainly not meeting the full need that is out there. There is a requirement to better assess and understand the need, which is why we keep going back to the call for more adequate and improved data on sexual, domestic and gender-based violence in Ireland. That is a constant struggle. While we appreciate what we get, fund-raising must supplement it. We receive contributions from clients where they can pay, but the majority of clients, if they pay anything, pay less than €20. It is really a token contribution.

Consent in respectful relationships is part of the key to the solution. So much damage is done where children and young people, in particular, do not understand consent, fail to talk about it, fail to learn when to say "No" or "Yes" and fail to learn how to hear "No" or "Yes" either. It would make a huge difference to the development of respectful relationships and improved self-regard if there was a sufficient focus on that at a time when children are at a vulnerable age. We have programmes whereby we work with teachers and Youthreach facilitators but it is voluntary. Teachers and Youthreach workers have to find the money to come to us, although we get some funding for that from Cosc. In addition, a programme is being rolled out by us and other rape crisis centres and the Manuela Riedo Foundation in Galway is also trying to develop something but these programmes are tiny and they are not going to get us where we need to go. We also work with universities but while good work is being done there also, it is a patchwork. While all of that is necessary, there is also a big job for the public. We have people contacting us, including women of mature age, who say "I thought I had to put up with it". They are only starting to learn now about what consent means in their own relationships. They were putting up with abusive and violent relationships. As such, there is a great deal of work for us to do in that area. It would be a game changer if there was a sufficient focus on that as a topic. I apologise for running on a bit.