Ms Mary McDermott:

I am happy to take that. There was a perfect storm between our obligations under the Istanbul Convention to meet those refuge requirements; Covid, which put domestic violence on the map; and the development of the national plan. A series of issues made this all come to a crisis point. The roll-out of refuge, in a general sense, is only one strand of the many housing paths that are needed for domestic violence victims, some of whom may never leave their homes or may leave a crisis-driven home and return to it. For example, Safe Ireland is initiating a safe-at-home pilot project. It is very important, as we set out in our opening statement and my colleagues will attest, that a set of pathways be provided. There is no single answer. Furthermore, that is also the case as represented by other issues in this context. There is no one-size-fits-all and we need a nuanced, flexible response.