Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I am replying on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I thank Deputy Deenihan for raising this important matter on the Adjournment. In general there is little appreciation of the devastation suffered by victims of sexual assault.

The national steering committee on violence against women was established following the report of the task force on violence against women in 1997. It is chaired by Deputy Fahey, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The purpose of the national steering committee is to provide a multidisciplinary, multi-agency and cohesive response to the problem of violence against women and in so doing to progress the recommendations of the task force. The steering committee is representative of a wide range of interests concerned with violence against women. The Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive are represented on this committee.

The objectives of the committee include ensuring that regional and local structures are established, developing public awareness campaigns, co-ordinating and advising on the distribution of resources nationally, and co-ordinating and advising on ongoing development of policies including those concerning perpetrators, criminal justice intervention, services and supports.

In June of this year the national steering committee working group published its report entitled, Sexual Assault Treatment Services — A National Review. The report detailed the current level of service provision and also made a number of recommendations for the future provision of services.

The factors that determine the location of sexual assault treatment units include sustainability of services, travel time and previous reporting rates. The sexual assault treatment unit, SATU, for the southern hospitals group catchment area of Cork and Kerry is located in the South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital, SFVUH, Cork. It is staffed by a nurse manager and a team of nurses providing an out-of-hours, on-call service, while a team of GPs provide medical cover.

The review group recommended that two additional SATUs be established, one in Galway city and the other in the midland region and it is committed to continual review of these services. Both the Minister and I are keen to see the recommendations from this report treated as a priority within the HSE and I anticipate that the HSE funding priorities for 2007 will reflect this.

The Government is committed to working with all interested parties and service providers and has undertaken a range of measures to reduce the incidence of domestic violence, to respond to the needs of both victims and perpetrators and to raise awareness among the public about the dynamics of these crimes. These measures can be seen across a wide range of Government policies and initiatives and include legislative measures, Garda response, health services, the national steering committee on violence against women, national research and treatment programmes for perpetrators.

A key indicator of Government commitment to the issue can be seen in the involvement of many Departments and agencies in the funding and provision of services. These include the Health Service Executive and the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Education and Science, Social and Family Affairs and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Funding in the health sector has risen from approximately €3.8 million in 1997 to approximately €12 million in 2005. The allocation of funding for front-line services is a matter for the Health Service Executive. Many services are provided by non-governmental organisations on behalf of the executive.

I am pleased to acknowledge the valuable work undertaken by the non-governmental organisations, such as women's refuges, rape crisis centres and Women's Aid to mention just some in this area. I also wish to acknowledge the direct supports provided by the HSE through its sexual assault treatment units, counselling services, accident and emergency units, social work services, GP and hospital and community services.

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