Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised)

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I would like to return briefly to the point on birth information and tracing legislation. I have a quarterly meeting with Tusla. I stressed to the outgoing chief executive and the interim chief executive the importance I place on Tusla fulfilling the obligations it has to rapidly meet people's request for information and the importance of the organisation doing all it can. We have provided the financial resources and we have also directly raised the issue with the organisation in terms of the work it is doing.

With regard to domestic violence, I am not trying to make an excuse, but this funding stream has been transferred to the Department of Justice. It is now responsible for the funding that Tusla gets for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services. The Department is responsible for all of the rest, other than the education and support service. I do not have a direct line of sight on that. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, secured a significant increase in funding for services relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. In that context, she has secured capital funding of €9 million. She has brought forward the third national strategy and part of this work is ongoing to identify refuge spaces. Deputies have already referenced a priority area. I will be honest and say I will probably not be able to speak on the detail of the number of refuges this year versus last year.